Avalon's Glory
by Aesop
Summary: BTVS/Gargoyles 7.  Glory is making life in Sunnydale impossible and they have to leave to protect Dawn.  What if a different choice was made?
1. Retreat

AVALON'S GLORY:

RETREAT

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters from Gargoyles or BTVS and don't make any money off of this, so don't bother suing. This is just for fun. This story takes most of season five into account. 

SUMMARY: Glory is in Sunnydale making life miserable for the Slayer and company. Joyce has died and Dawn, the Key, is in great danger. A choice needs to be made. What if a different choice had been made? Thanks to StorySeeker for the idea and the beta-read. As always, feedback is appreciated.

Buffy threw the last of Glory's minions through the store's front window; it was broken anyway. They were beginning to gather again though. The last one was proving particularly persistent. "Oh great," she muttered watching the scab covered demon pick itself up, "it's the energizer demon." A glance at her watch proved that she was running out of time. _Gotta wrap this up_. Dawn was at risk. This was a diversionary tactic, she was sure of it, which meant that Glory might be close to finding her little sister. The scab guys had never been so determined before.

Did Glory actually know or did she just suspect? It came to the same thing, they had realized. She would kill Dawn and Buffy couldn't allow that. Her attacks had grown more frequent as Glory became certain that Buffy knew where the Key was. The utmost care had been used in concealing the truth. No mention of Dawn's status was made after they realized that the scabbed demons were keeping them under surveillance, and Willow and Tara had been working overtime on protective charms for the entire group. They had even staged a conversation about finding the Key before Glory when they knew they were being watched. It hadn't worked. One had to give Glory credit. She might be crazy, but she wasn't stupid.

It had been especially rough over the past month since their mother had died. Dawn was a basket case, still not comfortable with the idea of being the Key she now had no mother, and a sister who was too busy keeping her alive to properly grieve. Buffy at least could take out her frustrations on Glory's henchthings. Dawn had no such outlet. 

Buffy sighed as she darted out the backdoor and began the almost routine task of throwing off the pursuing demons. They probably knew where the group was staying, but she still didn't want to arrive with a group of demons on her heels.

The current crisis was almost enough to make her nostalgic for the Initiative. Almost. When Adam had been shut down the previous year, it seemed certain that the covert ops group was going to disband and the soldiers, Riley included, would be reassigned elsewhere. But her boyfriend had made a case for keeping a small unit in Sunnydale to keep an official eye on the Hellmouth and continue, albeit in a limited fashion, the demon research. Riley, Forest Gates, Graham, and a handful of others had been assigned there with an even more limited group of scientists tasked to do research. Rather than looking for ways to control demons though, these men were seeking the best way to destroy them.

Riley had been hard pressed to talk his superiors into providing that much. He had noted somewhat cynically that if the government still believed there was a chance of controlling the demons the group would have a much larger budget and staff. Riley had even accepted Spike's help in keeping a lid on things. It almost made Buffy smile when she realized how low the proud soldier had sunk if he were accepting help from a vampire. 

Gates had continued to be a thorn in her side, but they had reached an understanding of sorts. For a time it had worked. Buffy had had a little help in keeping Sunnydale safe, for most of the Summer they had been struggling along, attempting to justify their presence in Sunnydale to their superiors, but that had ended after the first confrontation with Glory.

A small patrol had been redirected to investigate several disappearances near a warehouse. The night watchman at the mostly empty building and two men who lived in the neighborhood had failed to return home one night and it had seemed likely that a vampire nest had been established in the building. 

She still remembered the night vividly. It was the night everything had started to go to hell.

******************************************************************************

THREE MONTHS EARLIER

Dawn didn't belong. She was some kind of threat, a demon, monster of some sort. Buffy couldn't be sure, but she knew that Dawn wasn't her sister. She hadn't known what she would see when she cast the spell, but that hadn't been it. Dawn had been something she took for granted, just her annoying little sister, bane of her existence. Now it seemed there had been no 'so long', and Dawn was a menace in far more literal sense than the Slayer had ever suspected. 

She needed answers. There was only one place she could think to get them. Somehow her ersatz sister was connected to the glowing sphere she had found two weeks before. Could Dawn be the 'great evil' it was intended to ward off? Was that the reason that she hadn't done anything violent to Buffy or her mother, because the sphere was in the house? She had warned Dawn against harming her mother, but she couldn't act until she knew what she was dealing with. _What is she?_

Buffy shoved her speculations aside and increased her pace. It had already been half an hour since Joyce Summers had left the house. She had to find answers and return home before her mother got back from her meeting. She couldn't allow whatever Dawn was to be alone with her mother. Just the thought caused her to break out into a sprint that probably shattered several Olympic records, and brought her to the lot the building stood on in under three minutes.

Once there, she proceeded more cautiously. There was no telling what was inside the building, but she remembered Riley mentioning sending a patrol to check out a possible vampire nest. There was no sign of them, but that wasn't surprising. The soldiers were heavily into stealth. She probably wouldn't know they were there until the fighting started. _Speaking of stealth and fighting,_ Buffy moved through the shadows until she reached a side door. It was open and there were signs in the dirt that several men wearing combat boots had already entered the building. Buffy wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not. On the one hand it would be nice if they had control of the situation and she could simply question whatever monsters were in there. It was a strong possibility though that they would simply kill whatever non-human they found in there, and that would make questioning him, her, or it difficult.

Trading some of her stealth for speed she climbed the stairs to the second level. A burst of automatic fire made her pause for a second and then redouble her pace. A profanity in a female voice she didn't recognize and a sickening thud preceded her emergence onto the main floor. She glanced into the room and found a strange scene before her.

There were two Initiative soldiers lying in crumpled heaps on the floor. It was clear from the odd angle of the neck that one of them was dead. A third, Gates she realized, was dangling from the hand of a young woman. She was holding him by the throat and asking him questions.

"I don't really have anything against you. I just want what's mine." She patted his cheek in a patronizing fashion. "Why is that so hard for everyone to understand?" A pleading note crept into her voice. "If you just tell me where it is everyone will be sooo happy!" Gates made a few inarticulate noises. "Oh! Of course. I'm sorry." She shifted her grip. "Now. What were you saying?"

"Don't know what you're talking about!" The woman pouted and shook him.

"Are you sure? Cause that would mean I don't have any use for y-." Buffy tackled her. The woman went down hard, but was up again at once. "Hey! You can't just go around hitting people." She proved her point with a backhand that sent the Slayer flying. She stood watching as the Slayer climbed to her feet, and then, in a second she was standing before her. Buffy met her with an uppercut that lifted the woman off her feet. "Not bad. Hey! I just realized." She caught Buffy's next punch and held her arm in place easily. "You've got super powers. Tell me, can you fly?"

This time Buffy hit the ground considerably harder and much farther away. Struggling to her feet she watched her opponent, who looked human but obviously wasn't, approach at a more normal pace. Forest hadn't been idle during this. He had recovered and worked his way toward something Buffy had noted only briefly when she entered the room. A man in the brown, rough cloth robes of a monk was tied to a chair. He was watching through eyes almost swollen shut, as the Initiative agent quietly made his way to him and cut him free.

_Time to go on the offensive_, Buffy decided. Moving as fast as she was able, she threw herself forward and swept her opponent's legs from under her. The woman was up so fast it almost looked like she had bounced off the floor, only to be met with a vicious series of kicks and punches that didn't do much more than irritate her. Buffy dodged as best she could, knowing that she had to keep the woman, or whatever it was, focused on her while Forest got out with the hostage.

They were almost to the door when the woman grabbed Buffy's ankle in mid-kick and gave her another toss. It was at this point that she noticed. "Hey! That's my monk!" Buffy managed to get to her feet only to find that her left leg refused to support her. It made intercepting the woman difficult, and fighting her impossible. A review of her options was cut short when Forest shoved the monk towards her and dove for the gun dropped by the dead agent.

"Get out of here." He opened fire with the weapon on full automatic while moving between Buffy and the monk. Buffy took a moment to look back and forth between Forest, the demon woman, and the monk. Bullets staggered her, but she didn't go down, this decided Buffy. She grabbed the monk under the arms, held him against her, and ran for the window. Forest continued to fire, but the woman's voice was clearly audible over the sound of the gun.

"You RUINED my dress!!" 

With an extra burst of speed provided by something, she refused to call it panic, Buffy shoved off with her good leg and crashed through the second floor window.

******************************************************************************

The monk had died a few moments later of the injuries Glory had inflicted. Before he died though he had told her the truth about Dawn. The building had collapsed at some point. Buffy had called Riley to let him know what had happened, and had promised to come in after she had taken care of something. Then she had limped home and apologized to her sister. Her sister. The idea was no longer strange to her. She loved Dawn. Dawn was her sister no matter where she had come from, and that was all there was to it. 

Unfortunately the incident at the warehouse had been just the beginning. What was left of the Initiative folded within a week. It had been a struggle for Riley to keep his superiors convinced that their presence was justified. Support had been waning all summer despite the successful eradication of five nests and a grand total of 83 vampires dusted. The deaths of three agents in what appeared to be an accident was all that was needed for someone in Washington to recall the handful that were left. A total of six bodies had been found in what was left of the building, including the three agents. There had been no sign of Glory.

Riley had managed to stay for a while, but the stress had taken its toll on their relationship. Buffy's decision to hide the truth about Dawn had been the last straw, and he had departed two weeks after the others, bound for somewhere in Central America with his old unit.

She hadn't had long to mourn that relationship though, before other worries asserted themselves. Her mother's illness, Spike's infatuation, the Watcher's Council with their bullying tactics, and Dawn learning the truth about herself all conspired to keep her from properly moping. Glory had been just an occasional thorn in her side for a time, but she had become more persistent of late, convinced that Buffy knew where the Key was. It was almost as if she was getting desperate. In the last week her friends had had two close calls with the hell god. Each time they had escaped more by luck than skill or strength. 

Four days before, Glory gone to the Magic Box, intent on using her friends to pressure Buffy into giving up the Key. It was sheer luck that Giles had seen her coming and had had time to prepare. A book of spells, stowed behind the counter in case of emergencies had provided the answer. This particular book focused not on destructive force or raw power, which would have been worse than useless against Glory, but on clouding the perceptions of others. It contained spells for the creation of illusions and glamours ranging from simple cosmetic changes and spells to divert attention to complex spells that could keep an enemy lost and confused for hours.

What Giles required was a relatively simple illusion to distract Glory while he and Anya had slipped out the back. A few words of Aramaic and the use of the appropriate charm had created the illusion that they remained at the counter even as they were actually making their escape. Anya had only just gotten out of sight in the back room when Glory barged into the shop. Focusing on the illusory pair, she began to rant at them. Anya overheard enough before slipping out the back and into Giles' car to know what Glory intended. Fortunately, the two of them had been long gone before Glory discovered the deception. Anya was also gratified to discover that she had not chosen to take out her ire on the shop. 

Xander had had a similar encounter two days later. None of them had dared to show their faces on the streets since. Glory was, they felt certain, getting desperate, but they had no way of being sure because, although they now knew who and what Glory was they still had no idea of what the Key was or why Glory wanted it. 

This frustrating line of thought was interrupted by her arrival at their current hideout. Glory had shown up at the Summers' house once too often, forcing them to leave. _This can't go on_, Buffy thought bleakly as she entered the crypt and quickly made use of the hidden entrance to the tunnels. Spike met her as she rounded the corner, vampire visage showing. It fell away when he saw her. "Oh. There you are. Sorry about that," he said contritely. Buffy had jumped back slightly when he had popped out at her. "Dangerous neighborhood this." Buffy nodded, swallowing her heart. "Xander's at the docks, the witches are fetching some magic stuff from their dorm, and Anya and Giles are doing research at the shop." He saw her expression and raised a hand to forestall any objection or rash action. "Don't worry. They're taking precautions. No one will know they're even there." He led them back to a small stretch of natural tunnel where Dawn waited. 

"You okay Dawn?" Her little sister nodded, but she looked miserable and frightened. "Don't worry, Giles is working on something special. We'll be safe soon." Buffy tried to sound confident, but the words sounded forced and hollow. Dawn expression didn't change, not to pout or even to roll her eyes, and Buffy took it as a measure of how exhausted her sister really was.

"Do you really think Glory suspects me?" her sister asked in a small voice.

"I don't know, but I'm not taking the chance. Even if she doesn't suspect you, at this point she's more than willing to use you or any of the others to force me to give up the Key." Shaking her head and sighing heavily won concerned looks from the other two. "I still don't know how Glory figured out that it…" she broke off, looking uncomfortable.

"That it had been turned into a human?" Dawn finished. "Its okay Buffy. Its strange, but y'know, gotta deal with it." She attempted a smile that didn't fool Buffy or Spike. "So, um…" she cast about for a new topic. "What's this 'something special' Giles is working on?"

Buffy took the offered exit. "He thinks there's a place where we can hide from Glory. A place she can't get to."  
  
"You mean we're running away?" Dawn sounded shocked at the idea. Buffy had never run from anything. She had certainly never allowed any of the threats she had faced to drive her into hiding before. Her big sister smiled tiredly. 

"It's the best way Dawn. Glory is getting desperate. Giles thinks that means she doesn't have much time to do whatever it is she wants to do with you." She gave her little sister an apologetic look as Dawn winced. "Sorry. I don't know how else to-" Dawn waved away the apology. "Anyway," she continued. "We think that if we can stay out of her reach for long enough our problems with her will be over. Or at least," she amended, "her time to use the Key will have passed." No one looked happy with the 'solution,' but they saw the sense in it.

******************************************************************************

Willow watched Tara put items back into the box she'd carried into the dorm room it seemed only the day before. They'd been unofficially sharing the room, spending more nights together than apart, for more than a month. Now they were both packing their essentials. Charms, talismans, books, and potion ingredients were all going into the box for a quick get away. If Giles could find the spell they needed then they could all be safe from Glory. 

_We should be doing normal things!_ Willow ground her teeth in frustration. It wasn't fair! They shouldn't be running for their lives. _We should be attending the multicultural fair at the park, studying for exams, planning for romantic dinners followed by lots of snuggling_. There were times when Willow envied the ignorant people of the world, the ones who didn't know what lurked in the shadows and got bumpy in the night. Such moments were rare as Willow firmly believed that knowing was better than not knowing and ignorance was definitely not bliss. But there were days….

"That's everything," Tara said, interrupting Willow's rather gloomy train of thought. "We should go." She noticed her girlfriend's expression and frowned. "What's wrong?"

"We're running away from a crazy hell god. Isn't that enough? Oh, wait! This crazy hell god also eats brains! Can life get any better?" Her tone sounded bitter, almost whiny, even to her ears and she was glad that Tara, Tara who always understood her so well, was the only one to hear her outburst. She always knew what to do to make her redheaded girlfriend feel better. This time was no exception.

Setting down the box, Tara pulled her into a hug. "Oh baby, I know it looks bad right now, but we'll get through it." Willow clung to her tightly, needing the reassurance and very much wanting to believe that they would 'get through it.' Suddenly Tara stiffened. "If we run," she added tensely, her eyes fixed on something outside the window. Turning quickly, she took Willow by the hand and pulled her out the door. 

A ripping crunching sound followed them out. They hadn't even reached the end of the corridor when something blew by, and Glory was in front of them. "Where are you going so fast?" She pouted. "A girl could get the feeling she's unpopular." Neither responded. "Not feeling talkative? That's okay. I'll just take my Key and be going." She grabbed Tara by the arm and took off, or tried to.

Both witches spoke at once, a single word and Glory stumbled, dragging Tara to the ground with her. Tara hit the floor hard, opening a small gash in her forehead. "That wasn't nice," Glory pouted getting up and dragging Tara with her, nearly wrenching her arm out of the socket in the process. At the sound of her lover's cry of pain Willow's eyes narrowed in fury and the words to another spell leapt from her mouth before she realized what she was doing.

Glory's head snapped back with a force that would have snapped a human's neck like a twig and lifted her off her feet and flung her back. Fortunately, in her surprise she had released Tara's arm. Before she could rise Willow spoke again, invoking in soft tones the names of several powerful gods. Her voice rose as she finished the chant. "…by your second star, hold mine victim as in tar."

Glory's attempt to rise was halted at an awkward moment that left her with no leverage and very few options. "You'll pay for this witch!" the hell god promised as she struggled to push off the floor where she lay with one knee bent and one arm supporting her, the other uselessly outstretched towards her prize. Under other circumstances the scene might have struck Willow as funny, but she didn't linger to watch Glory struggle. Instead she grabbed Tara's uninjured arm and made for the dorm room and the exit Glory had unwittingly provided. 

As they fled, Willow gave a despairing thought to the other residents of the dorm and fervently hoped that Glory would be in too much of a hurry to take her frustrations out on anyone else. Willow selected a car at random and started it with magic. "Willow," Tara protested, focusing past the pain in her arm and head.

"I know, baby, but this is an emergency." Tara nodded reluctantly as the stolen car sped away. "Did Glory say she'd come for her Key?" Tara nodded. "I was afraid of that. You know what that means?"

"She thinks I'm the Key," Tara answered bleakly. "Oh well, better me than Dawn I suppose. If she's chasing me…" She broke off, unable to finish. Neither had any illusions about what would happen if Glory caught her and learned the truth. Both knew that Glory would kill her or take her mind. Tara honestly wasn't sure which would be worse.

******************************************************************************

"Yes Willow, I see… No, that is unacceptable. You know Buffy would say the same. Meet us at the docks as planned. We depart at sunset…. I've found references to the spell, but not the spell itself. I may have to call in a favor to get what I need." He listened a moment longer. "Yes. I'll see you then."

He hung up the phone and looked down at the book in front of him grimly. It was time to face facts. The incantation he needed was not in any of his books. It was almost time for desperate measures, but he had one last option before he was forced to call in that favor, or rather to beg a favor. It would have to wait until Anya left the shop though. Telling Buffy or any of the others what he intended was out of the question. Even under these circumstances Buffy would not allow Giles to place himself in debt to one of the Third Race. 

He shoved that thought aside. Maybe it wouldn't come to that. Casual references in conversation with detective Maza, a friend of the Gargoyle clan that lived in Manhattan had led him to believe they had a connection of some sort with members of the Third Race. His only hope, and it was a dim hope at that, was that one of them knew the way. 

Checking his preparations once more he shoved his worries to the back of his mind. It was time to be practical, he would probably have to make contact himself, and hope that the person he had chosen would be accommodating, and that when the time came to repay the favor that the Fay wouldn't want too much. There was little he could offer; he would just have to hope that his request amused the trickster. 

He called out to Anya. "I think I've found something." Anya climbed down the ladder carrying more books.

"Good, because there's nothing in these as far as I can tell." She set the books on the table for Giles' perusal. "I may read all of these languages, but that doesn't mean I understand half of what they're talking about." Giles considered the titles and sadly shook his head.

"No. There is nothing of use in these." He tapped the second one in the stack. "This one contains references to the Third Race, but not the incantation we require." Anya's shoulder's slumped and Giles patted her comfortingly. "I have a lead, but its time for us to be going. I need you to head to the docks to meet up with Xander and prepare the boat."

"By prepare you mean-"

"Rent if possible, steal if necessary. Let's not borrow trouble." Anya nodded, gathered a few items they had prepared for the journey and headed out. As soon as she was gone he set about mixing the ingredients he had set on the shelf behind the counter, out of sight. Had Anya seen them or the scroll he was consulting she would have known instantly what he was doing. Getting the Fay's attention wasn't that difficult, but convincing it to help would be another matter.

Once certain that he was prepared, it had been a time consuming and delicate process, he went to the phone, hoping that he would not have to cast the spell. The clock told him that it would be well after dark in New York and the Gargoyles would be awake. Double-checking the number, he began to dial. 

******************************************************************************

The phone rang three times before someone reached it. Goliath picked up the phone hesitantly. "Hello?"

"Yes, ah, hello. My name is Rupert Giles. I'm trying to reach Elisa Maza or Lexington." Goliath frowned. He didn't recognize the voice or the name. Neither Lexington, nor Elisa would have given out the number without consulting him.

"How precisely do you know them?" Perhaps they had mentioned it and he was simply not placing the name.

"I met them when they visited Sunnydale. I'm Buffy's Watcher. Is this by chance Goliath?" Now he remembered.

"Yes. I remember. Elisa is not here, but Lexington is near. Wait a moment." He set down the phone and went to find the small web-winged Gargoyle. The most obvious place to look turned out to be the right place. 

Lexington glanced up at the sound of the door and then back at the monitor screen of his computer. He typed rapidly for a few seconds and then turned his full attention to the clan leader. "Hey Goliath. What's up?"

"You have a call. Rupert Giles wishes to speak to you."

"Giles? Why would he be calling?"

"Perhaps you should ask him," Goliath suggested, and Lex jumped from his seat and headed for the phone. Goliath followed, curious as to the reason himself. The human had sounded distressed.

A brief conversation ensued followed by a lengthy silence during which Lex's eyes glowed briefly at several points. "All right," he said finally. "I'll ask, but I don't know if he can help. Hang on." Setting down the phone he turned to Goliath. "They've got a big problem in Sunnydale Goliath. Big enough that the Slayer and her friends are running. Leaving town." His tone was incredulous, even though he and Buffy had their friction he still had trouble believing that she was fleeing from something, abandoning her protectorate. Goliath noted Lexington's tone and realized that the young warrior was truly disturbed by the news. 

For his own part, Goliath had not known what to make of the Slayer during her two brief visits to New York, but the idea of the young but very able warrior fleeing from anything seemed strange indeed.

"What is the nature of this threat?" Goliath, equally startled, wanted to know.

"He says that a hell god called Glorificus is trying to get her hands on some mystical key. They've tried, but they can't do more than slow her down." Lex shook his head in wonder. "A hell god? Could it be one of the Third Race?" Goliath frowned. Glorificus was not a name he had heard before, but he had only met a handful of them. Titania, Oberon, and the rest might be indifferent to the younger races, but he did not believe that they could be classified as hell gods.

Perhaps it was one of Madoc's supporters. He stopped speculating long enough to ask the reason for the call. "They want the spell to get to Avalon," Lex said in a worried tone, one that Goliath knew was justified. "They want to go somewhere that Glorificus can't follow them. They think they can wait her out. There's some kind of time limit for this Key's use." 

Avalon. Goliath held out his hand for the phone and Lex handed it over. "Rupert Giles, this is Goliath. I'm not sure that you realize what you are asking for. Avalon is not a place you would be welcome."

"I have heard stories of the Third Race's, ah, capricious nature, but we really have nowhere else to run. We need to go somewhere that Glory cannot follow. Avalon is our best hope."

"Those stories you refer to are not exaggerated in the least. Oberon cares nothing for the problems of lesser creatures. At best you will be turned away." 

"Even that might by us some time," Giles insisted. "We need to delay Glory long enough that she misses her opportunity to perform the ritual. I do not believe that Glory can reach Avalon. She might not even risk it." He paused briefly. "I would not be asking if the situation were not grave. We can barely slow her down, a-and if she performs this ritual the entire world could be placed in terrible danger. Please. If you know the way you must aid us." The desperation in the Watcher's voice was clear, but still Goliath hesitated, disturbed at the idea of sending anyone to such a dangerous place. Oberon could destroy them as easily as a human or Gargoyle might swat a fly, and he was certain that Giles did not realize what he was getting himself into.

"Very well," he agreed reluctantly. "I do know the spell, but I have a condition." He waited for the human to acknowledge him. "No one must ever learn where you acquired this spell. Especially no one of the Third Race."

"I understand completely Goliath. You have my word. I will tell no one." 

"Very well. Then listen closely. It is a simple incantation…"

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Giles looked over the small group assembled in the shadow of the dockside warehouse. It was shortly after sunset, and the delay vexed everyone, but it had been unavoidable. Glory's 'hobbits with leprosy' as Buffy called them were everywhere, making it difficult to move in secret. When the sun had set the tension level went up as everyone knew it meant that the demons would be on the streets in even greater numbers, bolder in their movements. Still, they were ready. 

"Everyone is present then? Good we can proceed." They all nodded. Willow and Tara held hands; the redhead had not let her girlfriend out of her sight since the attack two hours before. They, like the Slayer, looked scared but determined. Dawn just looked scared.

Xander and Anya stuck close together, their eyes turned outward looking for any sign of Glory or her minions. Both of them nearly jumped out of their skins when a body hit the ground a few feet away. One of Glory's minions lay on the ground eyes staring sightlessly toward the sky. By the angle of its neck it was obviously dead. A moment later another dead body hit the ground.

"Chip or no I've still got it eh?" Spike gloated. "He never knew what hit him!"

"Geez!" Dawn breathed while thumping her chest as if to get her heart started again. "Did you have to drop him on us like that?" Spike's grin faded and he looked momentarily shamefaced. 

"Sorry niblet. Didn't mean to scare you." He looked at the others, none of whom seemed overjoyed to see him. "Don't all thank me at once." He held up a cell phone. "Lotta religious types would probably envy this guy," he said wagging the phone at them. "How many people have their god on speed dial you suppose?"

"Thanks Spike," Buffy offered, the words coming with less difficulty than she had expected. "We're about ready to go."

"Great! Where we goin'?"

"What do you mean 'we' paleface?" Xander demanded glaring at the vampire. "You're not going with us."

"Yes," Buffy said, "he is. Aside from me he's the only one strong enough to fight Glory."

"B-but Buffy," Giles protested, "if this works we'll be going somewhere where she can't follow."

"Are you certain of that?" Giles opened and then closed his mouth. He wasn't certain at all, and if he were wrong the inhabitants of the island would be less than pleased with him. Finally he sighed. 

"Whoever is coming we'd best get a move on." They turned to the small cabin cruiser that Anya had somehow wrangled the use of and boarded quickly with a minimum of grumbling from Xander, something Buffy was grateful for. Spike stayed at the stern, keeping an eye on the dock as the boat started up. He did not glance away when the engine started, but he still almost missed her arrival. He barely had time to shout a warning before Glory flattened him. Buffy was there seconds later.

"Going for a moonlight cruise with your bloodsucker boy-toy? How roman-" Spike's blow to the bridge of her nose would have killed a human. She caught his next blow but was focused on him just long enough to miss the hammer Buffy brought down on the hand that gripped the rail. The rail bent beneath the blow and Glory cried out even though the blow didn't even break a nail. The next swing took her under the jaw and knocked her back.

With her hold broken, the boat surged forward. Giles, at the helm, began to chant as the boat moved out into the harbor at a speed that violated maritime law and common sense.

"Vocate venti Fortunate

Ex rege Oberonis

Et hic navis fluctum regate

Ad orae avalonis"

Xander had joined Buffy and Spike in the stern and fired a flare gun at Glory. The hell god contemptuously swatted it out of the air, or tried to. The flare exploded on impact with her hand in a blinding flash. As the light faded, a mist began to form around the vessel. It quickly hid the shore from view, and the dock lights faded.

"Did it work?" Xander asked. "Are we gone?" He was still pointing the empty flare gun at the spot where they had last seen Glory, convulsively squeezing the trigger.

"Some more than others," Spike smirked.

******************************************************************************

The dock shook and cracked under Glory's petulant stomp. "No! That's not allowed! You come back here!" She turned away and walked back towards the shore. Her temper flared at the sight of her dead minion. She kicked the corpse, while swearing creatively. It couldn't be what she thought. She couldn't have heard the words she thought she had. Stopping in the shadow of the building she concentrated, something that was difficult when she was hungry. The words had been Latin, definitely a spell. Frowning fiercely she tried to remember word for word, and slowly the words and their translation came back to her.

"Come, winds, safely   
from the kingdom of Oberon   
guide this ship through the waves   
to the shores of Avalon.

"Avalon." She spat out the word like a bite of rotten fruit. "Terrific." In the old days she wouldn't have given the so-called Third Race a second thought, but with her power tethered she would have to take precautions before going there. The realization and what it meant infuriated her and she gave her dead minion an especially vicious kick that sent the remains halfway across the harbor.

She calmed herself with an effort. Time was running out and there were things to do. The sound of running feet caught her attention as dockworkers came to investigate the commotion. She frowned at the distraction for a moment, then smiled. _First thing's first. I'm hungry._

******************************************************************************

The mist swirled around the boat, and nothing was visible beyond it no matter how Buffy strained her eyes. "I don't see anything. Shouldn't we still be able to see the harbor lights?"

"If the spell worked correctly," Giles assured her, "no." 

"So we're going to Avalon huh?" Xander broke in. "That place where Cin-an-ev came from?" Giles nodded and Buffy looked away at the mention of the Fay's name. "And this was our best option?"

"Time passes differently on Avalon. For each hour that goes by there, a day goes by in our world. If my calculations are right Glory only has a short time before she has to have the Key for… for whatever purpose she needs it for. It would be best if we could go undetected while we're there. If not… We may have to hope that Lord Oberon is in a good mood." 

"Hope?" Xander said incredulously. "Um, it might surprise you, but I've done a little reading about Oberon and the Fay."

"And?" Dawn prompted. He looked up at Dawn and tried to say something encouraging, but Anya answered first.

"The words 'snowball's chance' come to mind."

******************************************************************************

The gathering of mist on the water drew their attention and, as one, they frowned in irritation. Setting aside their pleasures of the moment they moved toward the shore. The irritation turned to open dislike as the gasoline driven craft moved toward the shore. It was the first time a vessel not moved by natural means had dared to approach Avalon.

Several humans were visible on the deck of the small craft, none of which seemed sanguine about being there. In fact they, looked quite frightened at the sight of their reception committee hovering effortlessly above the waves. At least, one ventured, it indicated that their visitors had some sense.

A sound of displaced air and a whisper of magic caught their attention and one of them diverted a fraction of her awareness to identify the Fay that had just arrived on the shore behind them. Raven. She silently shared her knowledge with the others.

Giles stopped the boat and moved to the bow to speak to the figures that awaited them. "I am Rupert Giles of-"

"We care not who you are," the dark-haired female began.

"You are not welcome here," the one with silver hair continued.

"You must leave," the final sister concluded. "No magic may enter here save Avalon's own."

'We sense the magic the witches bring with them," the dark-haired one again.

Willow and Tara stepped forward at Giles urging and removed the few objects they had managed to bring with them despite their hasty departure. They presented the objects and set them on the deck, almost as an offering. The objects burned to ash, though none of the three had moved. Tara winced at the loss of her mother's necklace, but there was too much at stake. 

"Please," Giles began again. "We only require sanctuary for a few hours. This is the only place that could be safe for us. The only place she cannot-" 

"Meaningless chatter!" Silver-hair's eyes narrowed in irritation. "Depart now and you may keep your lives."

"Don't be so hasty ladies," an amused sounding voice drawled from the beach. They turned on him with mild irritation.

"This does not concern you."

"Seek your amusement elsewhere Raven, and leave us to our duties."

Raven rolled his eyes. "So melodramatic. Come now, a moment of your time. I've had a thought."

"A thought?" One of them, Giles wasn't sure which as they had turned away, spoke with something resembling astonishment.

"Truly a remarkable event," another added dryly. 

"This isn't going to happen is it?" Buffy whispered.

"Patience," Giles advised. 

Raven refused to rise to the bait, and reluctantly the three moved toward him and they conferred quietly. After a moment the three vanished and then reappeared a moment later. They approached the boat again. "Lord Oberon has decided to hear your plea," one began.

"It may serve to amuse him," another spoke, sounding dubious.

"Follow." They turned away and began to move toward the palace. The makeshift crew hastily dropped anchor and followed as quickly as they could. The one they had called Raven leaned against a tree smiling at them smugly. Buffy took an instant dislike to him, being strongly reminded of Cin-an-ev. 

With an effort, they managed to keep up with the their guides and entered the palace somewhat out of breath. Gargoyles stood guard at the entrance to the throne room and both eyed the visitors with open curiosity. They weren't the only ones. Word had apparently spread and many Fay had come to learn what the new arrivals were doing on Avalon, or more likely, Giles realized with a suppressed shiver, what Oberon would do to them.

The crowd in the throne room made way for them and they caught their first sight of Oberon. Giles caught his breath. The Fay lord was every bit as regal and intimidating as the tales had led him to expect. What had not been adequately conveyed though was the utter disdain he saw in Oberon's expression. His face might as well have been carved of granite for all the emotion he showed as he waited for their party to come before him.

"What, pray tell, is this?" 

"These mortals seek asylum on Avalon my lord."

"Indeed?" Oberon sounded bored as he looked over the group. He scowled when his eyes fell on Spike. "You dare bring a vampire before me?"

"He's harmless," Buffy surprised herself by speaking up.

"He is vermin," Oberon stated with finality. He barely spared the impertinent human a glance, but that was enough to catch his attention. He looked back and then looked closer. The girl was Fay touched. A spell of unusual complexity was woven throughout her being. And she was a Slayer.

"Why," he asked, "does a Slayer speak on behalf of a vampire?"

"He has a chip in his head, that zaps him if he even tries to hurt a human. He can't feed and he can't hit. Other vampires don't want anything to do with him, so basically… no one wants him around." This won her a hurt look from Spike.

"A fitting punishment for a vampire," Oberon observed, a rare note of approval in his voice. It was something that he himself might have devised. He continued to look them over. He stopped at Anya next. "Anyanka."

One by one the group turned to stare at her. Anya looked uncomfortable, especially under Xander's direct gaze. "It was a long time ago!"

The Fay queen turned and raised a sculpted eyebrow. "Another tryst husband? I thought I knew about them all." There was a sound of muffled laughter from the audience, Oberon glanced up, and it died immediately. 

"You are over pert my queen," his tone was mild, but carried a warning note. Titania gave a slight smile. Oberon didn't see it, as his eyes had never left the decidedly odd group before him. Perhaps, he mused, there was potential for entertainment here after all. 

He quickly passed over Giles and Xander and came to rest on Dawn, who stood bracketed by Tara and Willow, both of whom looked very much like bodyguards despite their efforts not to. Though he betrayed no reaction he was truly startled by the… potential the girl seemed to possess. She was not a witch and gave no outward evidence of power, but the feeling of her was like that of a great river surging against a dam. There was a puzzle here to solve, and Oberon loved puzzles. 

The glance he spared the girl was of only slightly greater length than he had granted the two human males. He was certain that only Titania knew him well enough to detect his interest in her. He moved on with the proceedings while maintaining his demeanor of utter boredom. "It is a diversion I suppose. Tell me why you seek asylum here? And why should I grant it?"

He fully intended to grant them leave to stay for a short time, long enough at any rate to discover the girl's true nature. It wouldn't do to be seen as soft though, and though he would admit it to no one he was curious as to why a group containing two powerful witches, a sorcerer, a vampire, and a Slayer would need asylum.

Giles stepped forward and began the story. Oberon listened patiently to an obviously edited account. He was both offended and mildly amused that the mortal believed he could deceive the lord of the Third Race so easily. He held his temper with an effort as it was clear he was trying to protect the girl who was looking about her with saucer sized eyes, taking in the wonders of his throne room.

"I have heard of this Glorificus," Oberon nodded. "She is indeed a threat… to mortals." He considered briefly. "You say you do not know her intentions?"

"No Majesty."

"But you believe her time is running out?"

"My research and her behavior indicate that the time to perform whatever ritual she needs to perform is running out. I believe we can wait her out. That's why Avalon is the perfect place. She cannot come here and the ah, time difference should solve our problem for us."

Oberon frowned as he considered the possibilities and the risks. Glorificus was a formidable enemy, but news of the manner in which she'd been overthrown and had her powers stripped had reached even Avalon. Oberon had been somewhat amused by the demon-god's fall from power. She had overreached herself and paid for it. Irony was something that the Third Race understood well.

After a suitable pause he nodded. "Very well. You may stay until dawn, but you must be gone at daybreak, linger not a second longer." With that, he dismissed them, leaving them to their own devices as he rose from his throne and left the room.

Titania smiled at them. "You have been accorded a rare gift. Do not waste your time here, and do not remind Oberon of your presence." She smiled. "You've managed to amuse him, but do not… 'push your luck.'"

"We won't," Giles assured her for the group. "Thank you." He bowed deeply and led the group out of the throne room. Once the doors had shut behind them they looked around the hall that seemed to stretch endlessly in both directions.

"You heard the lady," Xander said smiling. "Let's look around." There was a general agreement, but Giles warned them against wandering off and getting into trouble. He was as curious as the rest, but, _as usual_, he reflected wistfully, _I have to be the adult._ He glanced at the only two members of the group that were older than himself and suppressed a sigh.

Dawn stuck close to Buffy and Spike stayed near them both, not liking the idea of them wandering about without someone to watch their backs. The island made him decidedly nervous. Magic seemed to radiate from the native's in waves, and the look Oberon had given him didn't help matters. The vampire hovered protectively near the Slayer and her little sister even as the others spread out into a looser grouping, each stopping to gawk at new wonders as they made their way through the palace. They never strayed to far from each other though, by unspoken agreement. Always they stayed within earshot of the rest of the group. 

The sound of combat attracted Buffy's attention. She made her way into a small courtyard where several gargoyles were training under the direction of an older human. She watched for a time with a critical eye toward technique. The human noticed the small group and called for a rest. "Come lads, we have guests. Let us not be rude." The accent leant a rough edge to his voice that Buffy found she liked. He was about Giles' age and smiled affably as he approached. "I had not heard o' new arrivals on the island. I'm Tom, Guardian of the clan."

"Buffy Summers," Buffy replied wondering why a clan of Gargoyles would need a human Guardian. "This is my sister Dawn." She introduced the others as the gargoyles who had been watching the practice match gathered round.

"Its been a while since there's been any other humans on the island 'sides me and Katherine. What brings ye here?"

"Long story," Buffy allowed a small, rueful smile. "Let's just say we needed a safe place."

"Safe?" One of the Gargoyles, a muscular male with dusky gold skin and back curved horns like a ram's. "Oberon barely tolerates _us_. I wouldn't have thought he'd welcome any outsiders." Buffy shrugged. "Well I'm glad he did. We get no news of the outside world here."

Willow and Tara drifted slightly away from the conversation. The Gargoyles made Tara nervous, and Willow found herself keenly aware of her girlfriend's moods. She offered a reassuring smile but didn't try to draw her back into their company. Instead they wandered to the edge of the courtyard, looking for a new topic. There were wonders aplenty to see, even in as mundane a place as a walled-in courtyard. Willow found herself being unexpectedly drawn by Tara toward an archway and through it. She thought to protest and glanced back at the others, but noticed that the group was drifting apart anyway. 

Tara pulled her by the hand as she led her way through the stone hallways. Willow frowned slightly, realizing that her lover seemed to be following a sound only she could hear, and her manner discouraged interruption. Staying with her to protect her was the best Willow could do. Finally they stopped outside a door, and Tara opened it without knocking or hesitating.

******************************************************************************

Xander found himself sitting next to Spike watching Buffy and Gabriel, the clan's leader. Normally he would have been irritated by Spike's commentary, "poetry in motion she is," but he found himself too distracted by sight of Buffy sparring with a Gargoyle to be paying the vampire any real attention. Giles was doing the Watcher thing coaching Buffy on her form while Dawn was looking bored. Anya was talking to one of the Fay; an Asian looking woman who chatted amiably and soon led the ex-vengeance demon off somewhere. _Renewing old acquaintances_, he thought dismissing the matter. It might have bothered him more to see her going off with one of the male Fay, but he had long since gotten used to Anya's demon acquaintances turning up occasionally to say hi. He turned back to the match.

Buffy dropped and swept, attempting to knock Gabriel's feet from under him, but he easily jumped over and Buffy had to roll quickly aside to avoid being pinned when he came down. Both scrambled to their feet and circled warily. 

"You're good," Buffy commented. Gabriel smiled at the complement. The girl was an able warrior and, had she been a Gargoyle, would have been quite attractive. Even for a human she was eye-catching. He noticed one of his rookery brothers, Cyril, watching her, and his smile turned rueful. Poor Cyril fell in love at least once a week, and their exotic human visitor was, Gabriel realized, just his type. Cyril caught his eye and there was an eager look there that bordered on pleading.

"Gabriel is one of my best warriors," Tom said from the sidelines, oblivious to Cyril's attention. The guardian had been the one to suggest the sparring match after learning that Buffy was the Slayer. He had told the tale of a Slayer he had met years ago during one of his trips to the outside world to check on Goliath and his clan. Finding himself in Africa rather than Scotland, he had been drawn into a fight between a Bantu Slayer and an undead priest that had formed his own tribe of vampires. The story had both humans and Gargoyles riveted.

The tale had quickly led to tales of past battles and discussion of fighting styles, then to a sparring match.

Gabriel who had been naturally curious about the new arrivals was the first to notice that there were fewer than there had been. There were only four present. Three sitting on a low wall watching them and the young woman he was sparring with. He idly wondered where the others were even as he called a halt to give Cyril a chance to 'get acquainted' with the Slayer.

******************************************************************************

Dawn wondered what was making the light. She had been following it for some time now, but couldn't get close enough to discern a source. Twice she had almost given it up and gone back to Buffy, but when such thoughts entered her mind the light grew a little brighter and she realized that if she sped up, just a bit, she could catch it. Once she knew, she could turn back and return to Buffy before she'd known that her sister had left.

Her brow furrowed in thought. Hadn't she already been gone awhile? Dismissing the notion with a shake of her head she put on a little burst of speed. She'd just left after all. 

******************************************************************************

They entered a private chamber to find a man with silver hair sitting in a large an old-fashioned wing chair staring into the fireplace. He didn't glance up when they entered. The look of intense concentration on his face stopped Tara when the closed door hadn't. Willow glanced at her in confusion and then tried to draw her out of the room before the Fay noticed them.

"Wait." The voice stopped them. "Don't run off. I'll be done in a moment." He hadn't glanced up from the fire, and he didn't seem to be doing anything but staring into it. 

After a short time, he looked up and smiled at them. "It has been a long time since one of you came to me."

"One of… who?" Tara shook her head, as if emerging from a daze. 

The man smiled. "I can understand your confusion. The pull is somewhat hypnotic, other concerns drift away."

"What are you talking about?" Tara asked nervously. She wasn't even sure how she had gotten there and had no idea who the man in front of her was, if man was the right word. "You're Fay aren't you?"

"Of course," he smiled easily. "Relax child. I'll answer your questions as best I can."

******************************************************************************

Oberon watched the girl's progress through his palace curiously. Directing her with a simple will-o-the-wisp, he found himself vaguely disappointed that she was so easy to manipulate. What resistance there was centered around her sister. Oberon spared a thought for the Slayer, an anomaly to be sure. It would be easy enough to discover the nature and source of the enchantment on her, but it was effort he didn't care to expend. Dawn, however, interested him. 

There was power in the girl, great power, and he wanted to know its source. One could never tell when something truly interesting and perhaps even advantageous might drop into one's lap. The power was not of the Third Race. That much had been easy to determine. It was also obvious that the power was beyond her reach. It was not something Dawn could access or use any more than a grimoire could cast its own spells. She did not use magic, she was magic.

Oberon considered different ways to plumb the girl's secrets as he watched her wander into his next test. She was a puzzle. More than that though, she could be an opportunity.

******************************************************************************

Buffy and Cyril seemed to be getting on well, much to Spike's displeasure. The horned oaf was clearly smitten and Buffy was smiling at him as they sparred and conversed. That they did both at the same time annoyed him, as he remembered the easy back and forth he and the Slayer had had even when they were trying to kill each other. That was his 'thing'. How dare this… this… Spike ground his teeth, muttering darkly. Xander glanced over at him, smirking.

The vampire cast him a venomous look, weighing the pleasure of wiping the look off the carpenter's face against the pain it would cause him. He had almost decided it would be worth it when he remembered Dawn. She would be upset if he started pounding on the idiot, so Spike snuck a quick glance to see if the Slayer's sister was watching. Then he looked again, at first with annoyance and then with growing alarm.

"Buffy! Where's Dawn?" The Slayer spun on her heel and looked about frantically. She was sure Dawn had been sitting there just a moment ago. Spike and Xander moved quickly to locate the missing girl only to discover that Anya, Tara, and Willow were also gone.

"Did anyone see them leave?" Buffy turned to the Guardian in growing alarm.

"Not I," the man shook his head. Gabriel cut him off before he could continue.

"Ophelia, Cyril, Geoffrey, spread out and help our guests find them." He turned back to Buffy. "Don't worry my lady. The palace is safe. I'm sure they'll turn up soon with no harm done." 

******************************************************************************

Glory waited impatiently in the prow of the boat while her minions labored to get the vessel underway. It was a ridiculous way to travel, but it was the only way to get to Avalon with her power restricted. Once again she cursed the traitors who had banished her. That she had been planning to destroy them and seize control of their dimension for herself was beside the point.

She glanced back at her minions when the boat finally began to move. "About time!"

"Your pardon oh Glorious One!" Jinx whined. "All is in readiness for the voyage. Rest assured, the Key will soon be in our grasp."

"It had better be," she snapped in a tone that sent the scabby little toad scurrying away, "time is running out."

******************************************************************************

Gabriel organized his clan with admirable speed. He himself stayed with Buffy as the others searched. Giles and Xander went one way in search of Willow and Tara as well as Dawn. The others split up, Spike heading off on his own, following a hunch.

He had seen the way that Oberon's eyes had lingered on Dawn, and he recognized the look. Oberon was subtler to be sure, but a very similar look used to grace Angelus' face when he'd found a new obsession. Some of the things Angelus had done to his 'obsessions' had caused hardened soldiers to toss their cookies. He silently vowed that no harm would come to Dawn. The thought of what it would do to Buffy if she lost her little sister tore at his heart. 

He knew that that image, the idea that he could actually feel anything for Buffy or Dawn, would probably wring mocking laughter from Xander and Giles, but he didn't care. "Bugger 'em," he muttered as he made his way toward the throne room.

******************************************************************************

"I've gone by a variety of names, but I think Baldur is the one you're most likely to recognize." He gave a slight wince at the memory that evoked. It had been a foolish wager, and he had only accepted it after becoming very drunk. He had to admit though, that even had he been sober he might not have anticipated that holly tipped spear.

"B-baldur? Y-yeah, I've heard of you," Tara tried hard not to stammer, but the stranger made her very nervous. "Why…"

"You were drawn to me, my dear because blood calls out to blood."

"Huh?"

"Many human's who possess a talent for magic can claim some distant relationship to the Fay." Both girls stared at him in shock. "Oberon's children are a lusty lot. They've sewn their seed far and wide," he smiled ruefully. "Very few take any interest in their offspring though."

"Do you mean that y-y-you are related to me?" Tara barely got the words out.

"At some point in your family line," he confirmed. "That is why you were drawn to me." He frowned thoughtfully. "No real way of knowing how far back it was." He sighed. "There've been so many. There is a… vulnerability about your race that I find very endearing."

The two witches glanced at each other, unsure how to take that. So matter-of-factly did he speak that Tara had to think on the implications for a moment before blushing. In an effort to cover her embarrassment, she tried to move the conversation forward, not daring to look at Willow; not sure she wanted to know what her lover thought of this development. "So why am I here?" Tara asked. "Are humans with F-fay blood just drawn to… uh,…"

"To your ancestors?" he asked in amusement. "Not exactly." His condescending manner was beginning to rankle Willow. It gave her something to focus on besides the revelation that one of Tara's ancestors wasn't human. She wasn't sure how she felt about that, but she did know that it wouldn't change the way she felt about Tara. "Most don't bother to seek out their children, let alone their descendants. Keeping track of such things is a hobby of mine though. You wouldn't believe how many actual children Oberon has."

"Living in a glass house aren't you?" Willow asked archly. Tara glanced worriedly at her lover; concerned over the reaction this would provoke. To her surprise though, Baldur only laughed.

"Too true my dear. I do however take an interest in my descendants, at least enough of an interest to check up on them when I meet them. I never expected to meet one here though."

******************************************************************************

Oberon waited patiently for the girl to arrive in the garden. He had, after much consideration, arrived at a decision. The girl's true nature was concealed, protected by a powerful enchantment, and although he could break it by brute force, it might damage the girl and make her power unusable. It was clear from the Watcher's tale that he didn't know the nature of the girl's power, so it was probable that the girl was also ignorant as to her true nature.

That could be changed though. While he could not break the enchantment that protected her without risking losing her entirely, as it was the enchantment that gave her human form, he could alter it. He could put her power under her conscious control. It should tell him all he needed to know and with the proper guidance, guidance only he could provide, she could become a tremendous asset to him.

The light of the wisp and the sound of pursuing footsteps brought him out of his reverie. He smiled in anticipation and then marshaled his features into an expression of surprise as the wisp entered the garden and, at his silent command, circled away from him and then, as if by coincidence, came close to pass behind him.

Dawn saw Oberon look up in surprise and then in mild irritation as the light circled the garden and headed for a different archway. The garden was large enough that she was finally able to get a clear look at it before it could vanish around another corner.

It was nothing more than a hovering ball of light. The compulsion to follow it vanished when she got a clear look at it. That and Oberon's presence stopped her in her tracks. He looked irritated. With a gesture, he dispersed the light and glanced at Dawn. She began to back away, afraid he would do the same to her. Instead he smiled.

"Don't be alarmed child. It was only a will-o-the-wisp. Some of my children find them amusing." The disdain in his tone made it clear he did not. "Where is you sister?" That stopped Dawn's retreat. Where was Buffy? Where was she? How long had she been gone?

"I-I better go find her." She turned to go but stopped when she realized that she had no idea where she was. "Um…"

"Do not be concerned child. I'm sure your sister will be about, probably looking for you." He saw Dawn wince. "The wisps are somewhat hypnotic. Your sister can hardly blame you for being lured away." Dawn seemed relieved. "She is very protective, even more so than I would expect." Oberon carefully urged the girl to talk, a slight compulsion combined with a spell to calm her.

"Yeah, well, I'm kinda all she has left with mom gone." Oberon nodded.

"Understandable." Dawn edged closer, feeling more at ease. Outside his throne room the Fay king wasn't nearly as intimidating. "This must be difficult for you, uprooted from your home by Glorificus."

Dawn stiffened, becoming wary. "What do you know about her?" Dawn asked. "Do you know what she wants?"

Oberon made a dismissive gesture. "It is of no consequence. She is mad, and her motivations are irrelevant to me." He gave her a reassuring smile. "And to you as long as you are on my island." Dawn returned the smile.

"Thank you. She really scares me. So strong."

"You don't need to fear her," Oberon replied.

Dawn gave a brief snort of laughter, and then paled slightly when she remembered whom she was talking to. "Sorry, but its easy for you to say. You're not the one she wants to shove into a magic lock and twist." Now that, Oberon thought, was interesting. Magic lock? He reinforced her compulsion to speak. "I just wish I wasn't so helpless. I'm supposed to have all this power and I can't even do anything to protect myself. I have to rely on Buffy and the others, and they can't do anything against Glory. Not really." She frowned. "Well once Willow and Tara did this really cool spell that sent her away. For a while, before she came back I got a kick out of wondering about all the icky places she might have wound up. Like maybe she popped into someone's septic tank." She grinned at the image that created, and Oberon smiled as well, careful to play the indulgent, benevolent host. In truth the child's prattling was rather irritating, but she did have a vicious streak in her that he rather liked. "Or maybe she just showed up in midair a mile above town, like those old roadrunner cartoons she'd just hang there for a second and then look down and…" she let out a low whistle and mimed something being dropped from a great height.

Oberon chuckled. "Amusing, but it must be frustrating for you."

"Yeah," Dawn sagged. "I hate being helpless."

"There is no reason to be."

Dawn frowned, thinking for a moment. "I thought about asking Willow to teach me magic, but as powerful as she is even she can't do much to Glory. That spell I told you about? It took a lot out of her and she's been studying for, like, years."

"You said it yourself child. You have a great deal of power, perhaps enough to counter Glory if it were used against her. I felt that power in you when you came into my throne room."

"But I can't use it. It's not like I can…" she fumbled for words for a second before giving up, "use it. I-I don't even know what it's for."

"Hmm." Oberon gave a show of considering the possibilities. "Perhaps I can help you find out."

******************************************************************************

"When I saw you in the throne room I saw something I thought I recognized. Something I couldn't quite define." Baldur smiled thoughtfully. "I suspected a connection between us so I cast a simple spell. A call that only one of my blood could hear." 

"Well… 'hear' I am," Tara joked rather nervously. "Um, so... you were just curious? I mean its good to know I guess, but…" Tara trailed off, uncertain as to how to proceed. What do you say to an ancestor, a not-human ancestor, who just pops up to say 'hi'?

"I admit that at first I was merely curious. Not only are you a descendant of mine, but you arrive in such strange company." His smile faded and he sobered. "Then your Watcher friend mentioned Glory. I am… familiar with her."

"Do you know anything about her that might help us?" Willow asked eagerly, her earlier irritation forgotten. "I mean we spent days researching her and found nothing."

"That's not surprising. As old as Glory is, she's not accumulated much of a reputation outside her small circle, and she has never encouraged interest in her history or her weaknesses."

"So she does have weaknesses." Tara sighed with relief. "We were starting to think she didn't have any."

"Oh she has weaknesses, especially now." At their expectant looks he sighed and continued.

******************************************************************************

The mists began to thin and Glory leaned forward eagerly, watching for the first sight of the shore. It wouldn't be long now. She'd have the key and her way home. The Fay didn't worry her overmuch as she knew their weaknesses, and was prepared to exploit them.

"There! Oh sacred Glorious one, we have arrived." Glory actually smiled as the mists cleared to reveal Avalon. 

"Get ready," she snapped. "There'll be a reception committee."

******************************************************************************

Buffy had admirable stamina for a human, Cyril thought as he led the way at a brisk pace through the palace corridors. It was not a surprise to him that the Fay had been of no assistance. The first one, a dark skinned man with eight eyes had very helpfully sent them on a wild goose chase into the orchard. There they had found a dryad who suggested they drag the moat.

They had returned to the castle and learned from the Gargoyles on guards that Dawn had not left the castle. Over the next half-hour Cyril watched the Slayer's temper grow ever shorter as they searched the palace without success, and the corridor's tendency to rearrange themselves without warning, rhyme, or reason didn't help matters. They had never done that before the Fay returned and Cyril had concluded that it was their landlord's idea of a game, watching the humans and Gargoyles wander helplessly about before finally asking for help. 

They emerged on a balcony over a 150-foot drop that Cyril was at a loss to explain as they had been following a corridor off the main entrance hall. Buffy pounded on the ornate stone rail with a growl that would have done a Gargoyle proud. She spun on her heel. Cyril outdistanced her, hoping to head her off before she could do something she would regret.

He was angry himself, but he knew the Fay better than Buffy and knew when and when not to push. Still to appease the Slayer he was prepared to push a little. "You said we would find Dawn down that corridor," he glared at Raven fiercely. Buffy was approaching rapidly, and he hoped that she would calm down when she saw that he was confronting the Fay who had pointed the way to yet another dead end.

"You will," Raven assured him mildly. "All you have to do is wait." Other Fay who had gathered to watch the fun groaned at the poor joke. Buffy didn't laugh either. She didn't even slow down. There was a shocked silence as the trickster hit the ground several feet from where he'd been standing and lay still. Then the laughter started in earnest, following the infuriated Slayer and her gaping Gargoyle companion down the hall. 

"I think I'm in love," Cyril murmured as he sped up to keep pace with her. Buffy shot a look at him and he swallowed hard, realizing she'd overheard him. An aborted explanation/apology was cut off when she turned away and chose another corridor, apparently at random.

******************************************************************************

Spike found her in the corridor just outside her private chamber. "Hang on a moment." His tone stopped her in her tracks and she turned to face him, a cool expression settling over her features. She did not speak, only stared at him expectantly. Spike slowed as he approached her, realizing he was on thin ice just being on the island, he certainly didn't need to antagonize the queen.

"Dawn is missing," he began without preamble. "The others are searching, but haven't found her yet."

"I suggest you find her before sunrise," Titania said smoothly and turned toward her door.

"If you don't think this concerns you, yer mistaken."

"Explain." His tone gave her pause; she had sensed the girl's potential and had been dubious about allowing the group to stay on Avalon.

"Dawn's a lot more than she seems. I'm guessing you know this." Titania nodded. "And Oberon knows this too?" Titania frowned slightly, nodding again. "I saw the way he looked at her in the throne room. The pointy-eared set don't corner the market on scheming you know. I could practically hear the gears grinding."

"Curb your tongue parasite," Titania warned mildly. "My husband's 'schemes' are not your concern."

"No, Dawn is my concern. Now where are they?" Making demands of her was risky to the point of suicidal, but it was necessary.

"Why do you care vampire? Why does a soulless creature concern himself with a girl he would normally consider nothing more than food?"

"I made a promise to a lady," Spike answered tersely, not bothering to elaborate. "Thing is, that power you sensed in Dawn? It's not something anyone should be fooling with, not even your hubby, maybe especially not him." He didn't want to reveal too much, but when Titania seemed unmoved by his vague warning he realized he had to become specific. "Have you ever heard of the Key?" This got a reaction. Titania's eyes widened slightly in a barely controlled expression of shock.

"That child?" she managed after a moment. Spike nodded. "That's why Glory wants her," she mused, regaining her composure and thinking quickly. To her knowledge Oberon was unaware of the Key's existence or Glory's interest in it. He considered demons and their dealings beneath his notice. It would not be the first time that his arrogance had led him into trouble.

"Glory killed the monks who were guardin' the Key, but before she finished them off they hid it. Worked some mojo to make it into something different to hide it. So they made it human. Made it the safest thing they could think of, the Slayer's baby sister."

"Do you know what the Key is?"

"No. We haven't found anyone who can tell us."

******************************************************************************

"That would be very bad," Tara whispered.

"You have a gift for understatement child," Baldur informed her with a slight smile. "Oberon does not know of the Key. I'm not sure that even he could protect Avalon if it were activated."

"So he'd probably want to destroy it if he found it," Willow surmised, careful not to let the Fay see how the notion alarmed her. She couldn't let that happen, not to Dawn, but she had no idea how she could oppose someone as powerful as Oberon. "It would be safest."

"Not necessarily. He might try to harness the power of the Key for himself." His statement was met with incredulous looks.

"You're kidding right?" Willow demanded. "I mean he's already the king of a people who are worshipped as gods how much more power does he need?!"

Under different circumstances he might have found that funny. Clearly his descendant and her friend knew nothing of Oberon or his appetites. Nothing was ever enough for the king of the Third Race. Baldur regarded them gravely. "Oberon remains power hungry despite his position."

"Could he control the Key?" Tara asked. "I mean it sounds like a doomsday weapon. Tearing down all the walls between dimensions… it…"

"I believe he could, and would if the opportunity presented itself." Not as fond of mincing words or playing games as his cousins, Baldur had always been, by the standards of his race, unnervingly direct. It was a tendency that had caused some strain with his fellow Fay, but served him well in his dealings with the younger races. "You have the Key, or you know where it is. That's why you had to flee to Avalon." The two girls traded worried glances. "I strongly suspect that is why Oberon let you stay, because he's aware of the Key and wants it for himself."

"B-but you said he doesn't know about the Key."

"He doesn't to my knowledge, but he is attuned to the island and is immediately aware of any magical… potential, entering his domain, no matter how well it's hidden. He may not know its nature, but if its here you can be sure that he's aware of its presence. Any magic not of the Third Race's making will set up a disturbing… resonance I suppose is the word you would use. That disharmony is one of the reasons that mixing magic can be so dangerous."

"The Key…" Tara broke off and glanced at Willow.

"You needn't tell me anything," Baldur assured them. "But be aware of the risk; the risk the Key itself poses and the risk of losing it to Oberon."

"We should get back," Willow said suddenly. "We need to tell Buffy this stuff about the Key. She needs to know." Both witches headed for the door, but Tara remembered her manners and turned back.

"Thank you. It was very nice meeting you." She then turned and followed Willow out.

"The pleasure was mine," Baldur said to the closed door. He wondered if he should be worried about the Key's presence on Avalon. Oberon was arrogant, but he wasn't stupid. Surely even he would know when to leave well enough alone. Wouldn't he?

******************************************************************************

Glory strode toward the palace, now confident that the Fay artifact she carried was sufficient to conceal her presence, at least for a time. The cloak she had stolen from that halfling in Greece nearly three thousand years ago worked as reliably as ever. 

Glory snorted disdainfully when she thought about the 'hero' she had taken it from. The fool had never realized its full potential. It was not merely a cloak of invisibility as he had believed. It rendered the wearer undetectable by any means, even to members of the Third Race. That and the other surprise she carried should keep the Fay from bothering her while she retrieved her Key.

She walked blithely past the two gargoyles guarding the main gate and into the palace proper. 

******************************************************************************

The sisters withdrew from the beach and the wreckage of the demons' craft. Despite the iron weapons they had carried the creatures had proved no real threat. Still Oberon would not be pleased to learn that demons, no doubt drawn by Avalon's latest visitors, had attempted to land on the island.

"Feh!" Selene remarked. "They even make ugly fish."

"They will not trouble us again," Phoebe responded, "but we must inform Oberon at once. More may come." They willed themselves to the palace, drawn by their lord's presence. It was always possible to sense him, and it was usually possible to sense his mood. A good thing, as Oberon was mercurial, and it was not always safe, even for his most loyal servants, to be in his presence. In transit they took passing note of a disturbance, apparently caused by the Slayer, and silently added it to the list of reasons the interlopers should be sent away or simply destroyed immediately.

Oberon was in the garden. They appeared near him but held their peace when they saw what was happening. The youngest human stood before him, eyes closed as Oberon wove a spell about her. The look of intense concentration on their king's face surprised them. It took a task that would daunt any three of his children to truly tax Oberon's power. They held back, watching curiously at first and then with growing trepidation as they felt the girl's latent power surge. 

Like the others, the sisters had seen the girl's potential and had been hard pressed not to object openly when Oberon had allowed the group to stay. They dared not question their king's decision publicly, but they had tried to speak to him privately after he had left. Oberon had brushed aside their counsel as foolish worry and sent them away. Now they understood why.

The potential they had all sensed was being manipulated, being slowly and carefully brought to realization. The three traded nervous glances and backed away slowly. It was difficult to tell precisely what was happening, but judging by the play of energies and stresses on the spell that kept the girl's power in check, the process was nearing completion. 

******************************************************************************

Carefully. Carefully, Oberon manipulated the spell. It was of unusual complexity for a spell cast by humans; both powerful and subtle, but it was not beyond his abilities. He would have been offended by the idea had someone suggested that anything was beyond his power. Privately he had to acknowledge that the task presented him with a rare challenge. In order to reshape the spell it, was necessary to understand every aspect of it. The vessel's shape and integrity had to be maintained, not for the sake of the girl but because altering it might mean losing control of the power entirely. It was a slow, difficult process but he could feel it working. He had had to negate any physical effects, which would have mostly entailed the child reverting to a previous state, raw energy as far as he could tell. It was also necessary to take her mind into account as he was working with a living, thinking creature. Making the power available to her meant making the memories of her previous state available. To prevent psychological trauma that could render her useless or even dangerous to him, he had to soften the blow of those memories, place them at a distance so that she could access them but not be affected by them. That was the trickiest part.

With his delicate work nearing completion several things happened at once. He had felt the arrival of the three a moment ago, and had noted with satisfaction that they had had better sense than to interrupt. A pity, he reflected, that not everyone demonstrated such wisdom. His concentration was broken by a strident female voice and an uppercut that would have done serious structural damage to his palace.

"Get away from my Key smurf!!" Glory seemed to appear out of nowhere. It took Oberon a moment to shift his focus and realize that the hell god was discarding one of Arachne's creations, a cloak that he vaguely remembered having ordered destroyed thousands of years ago. He focused on Glory, his wrath building rapidly.

"How dare you?!" Oberon shrugged his way free of the wall he had been knocked partially through and advanced on her as she grabbed the child by the arm. Before she could secure her grip though she was knocked away by another female form. Oberon widened his focus and felt several groups converging on the garden. The Slayer was already there, pounding on Glorificus with a ferocity that would have frightened most mortals and not a few immortals. Glory seemed more annoyed than injured though and took a wild swing, knocking the Slayer away only to be tackled by one of Oberon's own honor guard. 

The Gargoyle loosed a battle cry that would draw the entire population of the castle to the garden. The garden was open to the sky and a glance upwards showed several of the clan already responding to the disturbance. The two witches entered the garden quickly followed by the rest of the Slayer's party. Individually, neither Glory, the Slayer, nor any of her companions posed any true threat to Oberon or his plans, but the situation was, he realized, quickly getting out of hand. Then she arrived. He felt the barest whisper of Fay magic and didn't even need to look to see who it was.

"Perhaps, husband, this was not the wisest course of action," Titania suggested mildly. The vampire was with her, which only added to Oberon's annoyance. 

Quickly surveying the scene Spike spotted Dawn standing in the middle of the maelstrom apparently frozen in terror. A glance to her right showed him Glory barreling through the ranks of the newly arrived gargoyles like an American linebacker running for the goal. With a roar of his own he ducked under one of Glory's blows and lifted her off her feet. There was an indignant squawk from the hell skank and Spike quickly flung her away before she could get a grip on him. He could never say afterwards whether, on some level, he had planned it or if it was just lucky chance that Oberon was in his line of fire.

******************************************************************************

Dawn didn't see the chaos around her. She only dimly heard the cries of pain and other sounds of violence. Memories overwhelmed her. Memories of a life, if that was the right word, so different that it was beyond her comprehension. 

The memories were hers, and yet, they weren't. 

Familiar, yet utterly alien. 

And with the memories came knowledge. 

She knew what she was, 

She knew her purpose. 

Dawn screamed, and Avalon screamed with her.

TO BE CONTINUED


	2. Down the Rabit hole

AVALON'S GLORY II:

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

By: Aesop

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters from Gargoyles or BTVS and don't make any money off of this, so don't bother suing. This is just for fun. This story takes most of season five into account. I don't own any of the characters from the second half of this part either, and I freely admit, I wrote mostly for laughs. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

SUMMARY: Glory is in Sunnydale making life miserable for the Slayer and company. Joyce has died and Dawn, the Key, is in great danger. A choice needs to be made. What if a different choice had been made? Thanks to StorySeeker for the idea and for beta reading it for me. As always, feedback is, as always, appreciated.

Dawn screamed, and Avalon screamed with her.

The scream rose in pitch, passing nearly beyond the range of human hearing, as if echoed, seemingly, by the very air around her. The battle stopped as both Oberon and Glory paused in grappling with each other to stare.

"You blue idiot," Glory snapped. "What did you do?" Oberon backhanded her contemptuously, sending her sprawling before moving toward Dawn to try to finish the spell. He never reached her.

Dawn was burning. She was coursing with energy that she desperately wanted to contain, knowing all too well what would happen if she unleashed it. She was the Key, and she knew what that meant even if no one else, not even Oberon did. The energy had to be contained.

Determination was not always enough though. Dawn was still a young and very frightened girl, terrified by the consequences of losing the fight. It was nearly impossible to focus on her surroundings while keeping the energy inside a shell that was never meant to contain such power. She was aware though, of several things happening around her. The island itself was shaking, almost in sympathy with the sound, a sound quite unlike anything she had ever heard before. It filled the air and she suddenly realized it was coming from her. She was causing the island to shake. It was alive she realized. The island itself was alive, and she was hurting it. 

Dawn became aware of other things. Oberon was coming towards her. The one who had started all of this, the one who had hurt her and the island. She couldn't think straight through the burning, but she was aware of Oberon and Glory and the part they had played in her misery. She wanted them away from her. Oberon approached, followed closely by Glory who had picked herself up and was moving to intercept him. 

Dawn focused on them, diverting her attention and energy enough to warn them, to want them, away. The scream from the island became a shriek of agony as the very fabric of space was torn by the energy that poured from her. Oberon and Glory were propelled backwards like cannonballs, crashing through the palace walls. In the wake of the blasts, the energy did not dissipate. Lines of crackling force, like suspended lightning hung in the air. Then those lines separated becoming first scars and then open wounds in the very fabric of reality. Beyond those openings were… 

Dawn's mind reeled at what she saw. Horror and disgust and the need to flee robbing her of what small control she had left. Energy poured from her, opening more tears. Gargoyles and Fay alike fled from them, but some stayed.

Buffy jumped, barely clearing the opening in the air, desperate to reach her sister. From the corner of her eye she saw Willow and Tara join hands and begin to chant. From another direction Spike was heading for Dawn. She felt a moment of panic when a portal opened almost under his feet. Through the portal, daylight poured, illuminating the room. The vampire jumped across without hesitation. He was smoking when he hit the ground, but he didn't break stride. He waved to her. "I'll protect her!" The shout seemed to attract Dawn's attention briefly, but Buffy wasn't sure that her sister was actually aware of anything beyond her own pain.

Dawn didn't see Giles or Anya, but Xander was close, dragging an injured gargoyle clear of one of the rifts out of which a thick, powerful looking tentacle was beginning to emerge. A roar caught her attention and she turned to see another gargoyles briefly take flight, clearing two of the rifts then landing briefly to pick up Buffy and vault over another. They came down only a few steps from her, and Dawn reached for her sister, desperately wanting Buffy with her, wanting her big sister to save her and take the pain away. 

Dawn realized her mistake even as she focused on them. The power surged out as if to engulf her would-be rescuers in a new tear. "No!" She cried out and tried to call it back. To her amazement, the energy obeyed, slowly, imperfectly, but it obeyed. Buffy danced back from the forming tear and pulled the gargoyle with her. More openings were forming and Dawn realized that she could feel them, each of them, in a way that she couldn't understand. There were no words to describe the sensation, but she knew she could close the rifts. She had to. There was only one problem. She didn't know how.

Her first attempt to manipulate the tears had been only partially successful and had caused the fire within her to flare painfully. She knew she could do it though. Bracing herself she concentrated. She could do it. Buffy could do it, and she was Buffy's sister, just as determined, just as able. _I can do this._

When she felt ready she reached out and seized control. Immediately, she regretted it. It was as if each of the portals was a wild beast, each pulling in a separate direction and Dawn felt as if they were tearing her apart. 

************************************************************************

The energy went wild. Buffy barely threw herself aside in time to avoid a lashing tendril of magical energy and the portal that was left in its wake. The portals were beginning to overlap she saw, and things were emerging, passing from one to the other or coming to Avalon. Not all survived long enough to prove a threat. She saw a gigantic creature with a misshapen head and more eyes than she could easily count begin to emerge from one of the portals. It hadn't even fully emerged though, when another streamer of energy struck the creature, punching straight through its bulbous form. The three tree-trunk thick limbs stiffened and thrashed briefly before the streamer widened into another portal, tearing the creature apart. A large quantity of its blood splashed against a wall near her. The marble began to blacken and bubble alarmingly and both she and Cyril, who had come to her aid, sprinted away from it, right into a portal that formed practically under their feet.

Buffy felt herself falling. A strong hand grasped her wrist and Buffy looked up to see Cyril trying to pull her back. She shouted a warning, but it came too late, as one of the monster's flailing arms struck him across the back, sending him tumbling after her.

************************************************************************

Willow and Tara fought a two front battle. Attempts to close or at least limit the portals were continually thwarted by Avalon's own fluctuating energies. The island did not react well to the intrusion of any outside magic, regardless of the intent behind the spell. When the energies had gone wild causing the lightning to lash out more furiously and unpredictably than before, both had been caught unaware. The energy seemed to rain down all around them and the half-formed counter-spell dissolved on their lips as they clutched each other while attempting to find a safe spot from which to cast it. They ran, hand in hand toward the nearest clear spot, beyond the apparent perimeter of the… whatever it was. They never saw the energy and rapidly forming portal racing toward them like a wave crashing down toward the beach.

************************************************************************

Spike leaped. He dropped and rolled and suddenly he was there. Dawn was right before him. It wasn't until that point that he realized something. Only after reaching her did he realize that he had no idea what to do. The tendrils of energy lashed madly about her and the only thing that was clear was that wherever they were, they weren't safe. He had to get her out. Spike looked around for Buffy, but didn't see her. It was hard to see anything past the overlapping portals and the chaos their interaction was causing. He scowled, thinking frantically. Since Dawn was somehow the source of the portals, he got that much, the only way to stop them might be to shut her down, but he couldn't see a way to do that without hurting her. There was nothing he could do and no place to go. Even as this thought crossed his mind he caught a motion out of the corner of his eye and realized that they were about to go somewhere. Somewhere that would be decidedly unsafe for both of them.

The portal was still forming. It looked like a ribbon being whipped about in a windstorm, but this ribbon was getting wider and it was headed straight for them. Without thinking he grabbed Dawn and jumped. His initial leap carried them over the forming portal and straight into Glory's arms. "Oh bugger."

"Language blondie," she shook a finger at him. "There are ladies present." She grabbed Dawn's wrist, snapping the girl out of her daze. "Now then. All you gotta do is open the right door to send me home."

Dawn stared. Her mouth worked up and down silently for a moment before she could get the words out. "That's all?!" 

"That's what you want?" Spike was equally incredulous. "To go home?" 

Glory didn't have the chance to answer. The tentacle that had begun to emerge from one of the first portals to open whipped about her legs. Spike glanced at the source and saw what the tentacle was attached to. "Oh bugger," he said again with considerable feeling. He drove two fingers into Glory's eyes while yanking Dawn away. It proved sufficient distraction that the demon was able to yank Glory off her feet. She hit the ground hard, releasing Dawn in surprise, as she found herself being dragged across the ground. 

"Bon apetit," Spike called to the creature as it dragged Glory through the portal. He had no illusions about how that would turn out, but the expression on her face was pretty funny, and it bought him enough time to get Dawn to safety. 

Provided of course, he reflected glancing about, that there was somewhere safe to go. A glance at Dawn's face showed a look of intense concentration. She was trying to control the energy. It didn't seem to be having much affect though. If anything the situation was getting worse. The tears were still forming and fluctuating wildly. The only affect she seemed to be having was to limit the area in which the portals appeared. It was rapidly becoming a choice between frying pan and fire. 

With seconds to choose he pulled Dawn tight against his chest and dove through the portal that didn't seem to offer instant death. 

************************************************************************

The source of the pain was gone. Oberon could feel it through his link to the island. The source of the pain, the ones that did not belong, were gone. The tears were still there, but without the source to hold them open and form new ones, Avalon's magic could mend them. Oberon quickly marshaled his wits and began to speed the process. A few alien creatures had come through, but they were quickly dispatched. All of the trouble seemed to have passed with the Slayer and the others, the young girl especially. Her loss irritated him, but there was little he could do.

Of Glorificus, there was no sign. He hoped she had ended up somewhere particularly unpleasant. With his will focused on the task the portals began to close more quickly, as he gave priority to the most unstable and to those that led to the most dangerous places. He had barely finished a third of them though when he was again interrupted.

"What are you doing?!" a familiar high pitched voice shrieked, practically in his ear. He turned his best disapproving scowl on Anyanka.

"Mind your tone demon."

"You can't do that! Xander is in one of those… those things." She turned and scanned the portals she could see, frantically looking for any sign of her boyfriend. "You have to find him."

"Absurd," Oberon scoffed, dismissing her from his mind. Again, he concentrated on the portals, knitting up what he perceived as painful wounds to Avalon itself. A sharp pain in his shin drew his attention back to Anyanka; he stared incredulously. Had she actually kicked him?

"Not absurd!" she insisted. "You made this mess, and now Xander is missing! You're going to fix it!" Oberon was not the only one staring at her. Her display of pique had drawn an audience, much to the Fay lord's annoyance. The older human, the Watcher, approached them, looking worried but more cautious. Gabriel, the leader of his honor guard, Oberon noted was also approaching rapidly. The gargoyle took Anyanka by the shoulder and pulled her away. The glare he gave her and the harsh words he began to speak, Oberon knew, were intended to mollify him. No doubt he believed Oberon would forgive the affront, or at least leave it to others to settle if the impudent demon were suitably chastised. Gabriel had barely begun to speak though when Anyanka broke in again. "I saw two of your clan get gobbled up by those holes too. You should be yelling louder than me!"

"Where is Buffy?" Giles broke in. "And Dawn and Tara and Willow?" 

Anya cast him an impatient look. "Oh. They fell through different portals. Gotta save Xander."

Giles took a moment to marvel at how incredibly self-absorbed the girl was before turning to Oberon. The Fay lord was, it seemed, as startled by Anya's behavior as he was. He dreaded drawing Oberon's attention to him, but saw no other choice. "Your Majesty, clearly this threat to Avalon must be eliminated, and the portals closed, but I beg you to show some consideration. The Slayer is needed in this dimension and those on whom she has come to rely as well. She has saved the world on many occasions, thanks mostly in part to their aid."

"What is the Human world's fate to me? Avalon is kept apart."

"Had Acathla managed to draw our world into Hell, Avalon would have suffered the same fate," Giles insisted. "Were the hellmouth to open, creatures would emerge quite capable of threatening the Fay." 

"He is correct husband." That voice gave Oberon pause. He turned to face his queen who had begun to place barriers over the portals without closing them. "This situation must be dealt with properly. For each creature that passes to another reality throws off the balance between those worlds." She faced him with a meaningful look. "You know how dangerous that can be." She did not attempt to play on his conscience, reminding him that the situation was entirely his fault. Such an approach would only anger him and assure that he would turn a deaf ear to the mortals' pleas. So, although her tone spoke volumes about her opinion of his conduct, she took another tack.

"There is some truth in that my queen," he allowed.

"With Avalon as the nexus of this disturbance it is even more important that this situation be resolved fully. One does not close an infected wound." Oberon nodded reluctantly.

  
"Then we should begin quickly," Giles interrupted, catching on to the queen's game. "The instability will only grow worse the longer this situation goes unresolved." Anya opened her mouth to interrupt, but Giles shot her a look, knowing that Oberon would not want to hear from her about Xander.

"Let us begin," Oberon stated with a tone that in no way indicated that he was feeling bullied or coerced. All three stopped to wonder at his self-possession. Or was it self-involvement, Giles reflected.

************************************************************************

Spike seemed to fall for an eternity; an eternity of Dawn screaming in his ear, he winced and focused instead on the ground that was suddenly rushing towards them. With a silent curse he twisted himself and Dawn around in mid-air so he would absorb the impact. When it came it was surprisingly soft, as if he had fallen only a few feet rather than the miles that he would have believed.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Spike scrambled to his feet and turned to examine Dawn. She was shaken, wide-eyed and terrified but basically unharmed. Best of all, she wasn't crackling like tinfoil in a microwave. At his questioning look Dawn nodded, and tried to look brave. He gave her a slight smile, then glanced up and smothered an oath. The portal was gone. 

He wasn't sure what he had expected, perhaps that it would still be there like an open trapdoor through which he could see the sky over Avalon, but there was no opening, or any sign that one had ever existed. A glance at Dawn showed him that she, for the moment anyway, would be of no assistance.

Turning his attention to their surroundings, Spike took in the metal floor and walls of a large chamber. It was mostly empty, but there were rows of what appeared to be crates stacked along one wall. The chamber was dark, save for small glowing squares covered in odd symbols he couldn't make out from his place in the center of the chamber. He could make out what might have lighting fixtures in the ceiling.

"Where are we?" Dawn asked, breaking the silence.

"Dunno nibblet. But it looks like we're in somebody's closet." Dawn had gotten to her feet and was making a slow 360, taking in their surroundings for herself.

"Big closet," she commented, for lack of anything better to say. "The rabbit hole's gone." 

"What?" Spike glanced at her confused by her apparent non-sequitur.

"Didn't look like one," she allowed, "and I don't think this is wonderland, but…"

"Uh-huh," Spike agreed, not wanting to follow that line of thinking too far. Dawn's voice was calm, which made him nervous for some reason. A glance at her showed that she was worrying her lower lip between her teeth, but she still seemed calm, and he put it down to her best attempt to be brave. He spotted what looked like a door in one corner of the room and, gesturing for Dawn to follow, started towards it.

As they approached the lights in the room suddenly came on, momentarily blinding them. Spike heard a brief hissing sound that he realized must be the door opening and yanked Dawn behind him while he blinked spots out of his eyes. 

As his vision began to clear he opened his mouth to speak to the group of people who had just rushed into the room but instead his jaw hung open in shock at the sight that greeted him.

************************************************************************

"Report," the captain snapped, settling herself in the command chair again after being tossed out of it

Her operations officer stared at his board in confusion even as he complied. "The ship has been… stopped. Something has, anchored us to these coordinates somehow."

"Tractor beam?"

"No captain. Something internal. Scanning." A moment's concentration brought him a partial answer. "There's… some kind of opening in cargo bay four. It's a fixed point that doesn't move with the ship. It's holding us in place." 

"What kind of opening? Has the hull been breached?"

"No captain. Readings are confused though. The readings are similar to a subspace tear, but there are energy signatures there that I've never seen before. The computer can't identify them."

"Captain," her security chief broke in, "something has emerged from the opening." Studying his board for a moment, he frowned. "The energy from the opening is making sensor readings difficult."

The captain nodded to him. 'Get down there with a team."

"Aye captain," came the firm, unemotional voice of her old friend, even as he turned to leave the bridge. That done, she turned to assessing the damage to her ship, thankful that they had been in orbit of a planet rather than traveling at warp. The phenomenon, she quickly realized, could have torn her ship apart. As it was, only the ship's elaborate safeguards had prevented a disaster, compensating for the sudden change in inertia. 

The readings were indeed strange, but she was not given time to properly analyze them. Even as she watched, they returned to normal as the opening vanished within seconds after appearing. Sensor readings were still problematic though. Something had come through the opening, but she couldn't tell what. There were life sign readings, at least one clear one, but there were indications that there was something else there too.

************************************************************************

"Ready sir. Scans confirm the opening is gone and there is a breathable atmosphere. No hull breach in evidence." The security chief nodded and motioned them to be ready. Scans also showed one life form in the cargo bay, but the readings were confused by the lingering effects of the subspace tear, if that was what it had been, and an odd sort of sensor echo. He entered a command into the door's control panel to bring up the lights in the bay to full illumination and opened the doors.

He was the first through, quickly stepping aside and sweeping the room as the three member security detail followed him and fanned out to surround the intruder. Make that intruders. "Do not move," he ordered, his reaction delayed imperceptibly by what he saw before him.

Lt. Commander Tuvok had more than 50 years of experience as a starfleet officer behind him, and had seen things few others had. Occasionally though, he still managed to be surprised. He wasn't sure which was more surprising though, the fact that the intruders were human, a teenage girl and a man apparently in his mid-twenties, or the way they were ignoring the weapons trained on them and staring at him with incredulous expressions. 

"No one else here sir," one of his men reported, "and no sign of the opening."

Tuvok nodded briefly before addressing Voyager's uninvited guests. "Identify yourselves." The two looked at each other, baffled. "Do you understand me?"

"Perfectly," the man replied. "What's with the costume party?" 

"Excuse me?"

"We land at a Trekkies convention or somethin'?"

"I do not understand," Tuvok replied politely. "You are aboard the Federation starship _Voyager_. I am lieutenant commander Tuvok, chief of security. Identify yourselves."

"You first," the man answered, growing surly. "How dumb do I look?" He glanced at his companion and addressed her in conspiratorial whisper that only Tuvok with his superior hearing could make out. "I once ate a trekkie. Took me days to get the taste of acne medicine out of my mouth." The girl mustered a small laugh that sounded on the edge of hysteria. The man didn't seem to notice. Instead he turned back to Tuvok. "I know who you're supposed to be, even I watch that drivel occasionally, but if you expect me to believe this is genuine you really need to 'mind meld' with someone who has half a brain."

The rest security team exchanged confused glances, not sure what to make of this development. "You believe this to be some kind of ruse?" Tuvok asked, confused by their behavior. Before he could answer the girl spoke up from where she was hiding behind her friend.

"Are they human Spike?" The question seemed to give him a moment's pause. He inhaled deeply as if sampling their scents.

"All except that one 'bit," he nodded to Tuvok. "But that doesn't prove anything. I know a Chirago demon who owns every episode of Bonanza on tape. What does that prove?" 'Bit' shrugged, but looked uncomfortable.

"So where are we? Really?"

"I told you," Tuvok responded. "You are aboard _Voyager_, now please come with us. Our captain…"

"Oh pull the other one," the one called Spike snarled, losing his temper, "and put away those toys before I feed them to you." He moved forward menacingly, and Tuvok, adjusted his phaser to a low stun setting and fired. The effect was dramatic.

Spike stumbled back, more surprised than hurt. It was real. Whatever it was it could hurt them. He made a quick decision. "Get to cover Dawn!" With a roar he launched himself at the non-human. The red beam struck him again, but it didn't even slow him down this time. Whatever the creature was, it was fast, but not quite fast enough. Spike snatched the weapon with one hand and the man's uniform with another, pulling him into a headbutt before swinging him around to use as a shield. Tuvok was just in time to catch the beams from two of his men in the chest. Spike tossed the limp body toward the closest while dodging the other way. As he ran he raised the weapon, taking aim at one of the remaining uniformed strangers. 

The pain was as unexpected as it was familiar. "Aaarrghh!" He stumbled to a stop, nearly dropping the weapon. Converging fire from the remaining three struck him and drove him back against the wall. They were using a much higher setting he noticed. This time he actually felt it. "But it was on stun," he complained petulantly to his chip and its designer before he dropped to his knees and fell face down on the deck.

Dawn screamed when she saw Spike fall. Scrambling behind a stack of crates she watched as two of the men approached her while another checked on Spike.

"Security to bridge."

"Report," Janeway, answered, concerned that it was lieutenant Willis rather than Tuvok reporting in.

"Medical emergency in the cargo bay."

"Responding now," the doctor cut in. 

"What happened?" Janeway demanded.

"Two intruders, human." He shook his head, in confusion. "They were behaving strangely. One of them got angry and attacked Tuvok. The phaser had no effect on him. Commander Tuvok was injured when we attempted to stop him."

"What about the other?" A piercing noise came over the com.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!!!!" A loud crash and a startled shout echoed around the bridge. Her junior officers turned to stare. 

"I'm coming down there." She nodded to her first officer. "You have the bridge." Even as she rose, the noises from the cargo bay continued.

"Come on no one wants to hurt you. Just calm dow- Aawk!" Another crash. 

"Can we just stun her?" another voice called.

Janeway hurried into the turbolift and made her way to the proper deck. By the time she reached the cargo bay the place was a shambles. "Report." The doctor looked up from examining Tuvok. 

"Tuvok will be fine. He's just been stunned." He motioned to the others who were staring up at a stack of cargo containers along the wall. "Nothing injured on them but their pride."

"And our intruders?"

The doctor's manner became grave. "One fatality. There was nothing I could do for him, but captain-".

"Where is the other?" she asked, casting a glance to the still form on the deck. 

"The other is up there." Janeway followed his gaze to where the security detail had apparently cornered the second intruder. She looked up to the top of the row of stacked cargo containers as she moved to join them. There was a human girl, 15 at most, she thought, staring down at them with wide frightened eyes.

"No one wants to hurt you," she called up to the frightened child. "How did you get here?" No answer. "Are you hurt?" Still no answer. "Our doctor can help you if you'll come down."

"NO!" That got a response, Janeway noted ruefully as she dodged back from the falling container. The pitch of her voice made them all wince. She hadn't been aware a human voice could reach that pitch. The girl moved away from them, farther along the row, doing her best to stay out of sight.

"Please. There's no need for this. At least tell me your name."

After a moment's hesitation the reply came, softer this time. "Dawn. My name is Dawn. That's Spike," she added pointing to the dead man. Janeway cast a glance at the corpse. _This_, she reflected, _is not going to be easy_. She didn't seem to realize her friend was dead. 

"I'm Katherine Janeway, captain of this ship. Could you tell me what you're doing here?"

"Fell down a rabbit hole," Dawn answered unhelpfully. Janeway glanced at the doctor and Tuvok, who had just regained consciousness, for help. The doctor only shrugged.

"The child is clearly hysterical captain," Tuvok spoke quietly. "I'm not sure we'll get any useful information out of her until she calms down. I suggest you keep her talking, make her think, focus." Janeway nodded.

"I don't understand. Rabbit hole?"

"Nobody reads the classics anymore," came the non-sequitur. Janeway blinked and glanced at her officers for help.

"Alice in Wonderland," Tuvok replied softly. She nodded.

"Of course. By rabbit hole you mean the inter-dimensional opening that registered on our sensors a few moments ago?" The scientist in her came to the fore. "What sort of opening was it and how was it created?" No answer. "The readings were similar to an interspatial flecture, but there were unusually high gamma levels and elevated cronoton readings not usually associated-"

"SPEAK ENGLISH!!!"

Janeway winced, grateful there was no glass in the cargo bay. It most likely would have shattered. "Sorry. I'm trying to understand what happened, but I need your help. Can you tell me what happened?"

"It was all Oberon's fault," Dawn informed them as if that explained anything. "He didn't know what he was messing with, the big stupid…. SMURF!" She fumed silently for a moment, but seemed calmer. "He just wanted to control me, but he didn't know, so he's all like, 'Oh look an atom bomb. I wonder what this big red button does?'" She huffed indignantly and continued before Janeway could ask for details. "Glory didn't help of course. She was the reason we went there in the first place. Stupid hell-skank, thinks she's so smart, queen of everything just 'cause a buncha ugly goblin things kiss her stinky feet! I hope Buffy's kicking her ass right now!"

She ran out of air and paused to peek out at them again. Janeway smiled up at her and ventured a step closer. This only seemed to alarm the girl who drew back. "Perhaps you could give us some more details? Who is Oberon?" Janeway ventured. "I know it's hard, but we can't help you if you don't help us, just try to be calm."

"Calm? Sure. Why not? Why shouldn't I be calm?" Her voice started to rise again. "Just 'cause I'm so far from home Willow's gonna need a ouija board to find me? Just 'cause your goons shot Spike? Just 'cause I'm cracking up, talking to people who aren't even REAL?! Why shouldn't I be calm?"

"Not real?" Janeway glanced at Tuvok, who nodded.

"I am at a loss to explain it captain. They seemed to recognize us, but they refuse to believe that we are who we claim to be." Janeway frowned thoughtfully. "Perhaps they believe this is some kind of deception?"

"Possible, but to what end? Who are they?" Tuvok did not shrug, but judging by his expression, Janeway was sure he would have had he been human. She returned her attention to Dawn. "Why do you think we're not real?"

"Because I'm not stupid," came the reply. "'Sides, you've got bigger problems."

"Such as?" Janeway asked.

"Such as me," came an unfamiliar voice followed by a startled exclamation. They turned to find Spike holding the doctor by the throat, using him as a shield. The doctor looked more irritated than injured. He was still holding his tricorder and waved it at the individual holding him.

"Why don't you have any life signs?" he asked indignantly. Spike glanced at him, confused by his lack of concern, before returning his attention to Janeway.

"I'd call a pissed off vampire a problem," Dawn offered smugly. "You okay Spike?"

"Fine Dawn. Let's get out of here."

Janeway stared at the… creature holding her chief medical officer. Whatever else he was, he certainly wasn't human. The yellow eyes and facial ridges seemed to rule that out. _Did Dawn say 'vampire?'_ she wondered, noting the sharp teeth revealed when the man spoke. The doctor, quite naturally, was not perturbed by the possibility. He tried to shrug off his attacker and nearly freed himself. Spike simply shifted his grip and accidentally dislodged the mobile emitter. The expression on the 'vampire's' face was almost comical when the doctor vanished and the emitter fell unnoticed to the deck.

"Oh balls."

************************************************************************

"The difficulty lies in finding the right destination," Titania explained. "The Key does not create the openings in any specific order. It is designed to tear down walls, not open doors."

"So how do we find them?" Giles asked for the group. The portals that had not been closed were temporarily sealed, making it impossible for creatures from any of the other worlds to come to Avalon. Oberon was not happy, but he had grudgingly deferred to his queen for the moment and was putting his efforts into soothing the disturbances that the portals were causing on Avalon. He had graciously offered them one hour to retrieve their lost friends.

Anya stayed silent with difficulty, nervously shifting from one foot to another. It wasn't easy for her. She wanted action, immediate results. Oberon didn't intimidate her overmuch, even knowing what he could do if she pushed him too far, but Giles had been able to get through to her, reminding her that she would be of no use to Xander as a smear on the wall.

Oberon had withdrawn, leaving the rescue operations in the capable hands of his queen, and no one was particularly sorry to see him go. Titania was more focused in his absence and turned her full attention to the problem. 

There were a total of 16 openings, a few of which they were able to eliminate immediately. Anya knew which one Xander had passed through, but after a furious, but necessarily short debate, they had decided to find Dawn first. Giles reasoned that she was likely to be the one in the most danger, as he was confident of the others' ability to take care of themselves. The fact that Spike had been with Dawn did not, in any way, comfort him. Gabriel organized a group of warriors to enter each world in turn in order to find the missing people, declaring his intention to lead the group himself. There was some debate over that as well, as his second was one of those missing. 

Titania considered Giles' question. "I believe I can track down Dawn by the energy she gives off. The Key is a magical artifact and should be detectable." She caught Giles biting his tongue, looking unhappy at her description of Dawn as an artifact. "Whatever else she is Mr. Giles, she is also a dangerous magical force. That must be taken into account in resolving this matter. Do not worry though. There are ways of binding that power. The child will be returned to you safely." Giles nodded, slightly reassured, and Titania tuned him out as she focused on the lingering energy trace left by the Key's passage.

************************************************************************

"A television show?"

"Yeah. Not a terribly good one either," Spike smirked. "Probably why it was canceled." This drew looks from the _Voyager_ crew present including Harry Kim who had come down to run a diagnostic on the doctor's emitter. 

"Canceled?" the doctor asked, looking surprised. "Who wouldn't want to see this face every week?'

"Doctor," the captain started in a warning tone.

"Did we make it home?" Harry asked, looking hopeful.

"Mr. Kim," she changed focus, beginning to sound slightly exasperated.

Spike chuckled. "Looks like we got somethin' in common captain. We're both lookin' after children." This drew several offended looks his way and Janeway decided to move on before the conversation could drift farther off topic.

"So that's why you didn't believe us," Janeway nodded. "I suppose that makes sense, as much as any of this does." She paused, considering. "Do you believe that we are who we say we are now?"

Spike frowned as he reached out and tapped the forcefield separating him from the rest of sickbay. "Phasers, forcefields, tricorders? Why not? I suppose you've got transporters too?" 

"Yes." 

"Would it be the weirdest thing we've seen?" Dawn asked from her place on the biobed. "Remember the killer snot monster? Or the troll?"

"I'd like to forget frankly," the vampire muttered. Dawn was calmer now, he noted. She only became agitated when the subject turned to the way they had arrived. He wasn't sure how she was coping. Whatever had shut her down though, he was grateful for it. Somehow he doubted that their unwilling hosts were prepared to deal with an hysterical Key opening inter-dimensional portals inside their ship. 

Dawn had reluctantly agreed to be examined by their doctor, the one who apparently lived in the little decoration that he kept on his sleeve. _What's a killer snot monster compared to that for weirdness?_ She had agreed, as long as Spike wasn't too far away.

"How is she doc?" he asked from behind the security field that Tuvok had insisted on.

The doctor glanced over, still annoyed with Spike over being held hostage. "Aside from the normal physiological signs associated with stressful situations she's fine. There are some readings that I do not understand however."

"Like what?" Dawn wanted to know.

"Well…" he considered how best to answer the question. "Most carbon based life-forms are electrochemical engines. Every living creature has distinctive energy readings, an electromagnetic signature if you will. I've never encountered one like yours."

"So I've got… energy in me?"

"Crude, but yes. Quite a bit it seems." He glanced at his captain who nodded for him to continue. "The energy isn't electrochemical in nature either. I'm frankly not yet sure what I'm seeing." Dawn swallowed visibly and bit her lip.

"Great doc," Spike put in sourly. "Just what every patient wants to hear from a doctor. 'I'm clueless.'" The hologram chose to ignore the remark.

"I would suggest that Seven might be able to contribute something to the discussion. We've moved beyond medicine. I believe she might have some thoughts on this matter."

Janeway nodded. "She's in the cargo bay examining the place where the anomaly appeared." Tapping her com badge, she called to the air. "Seven, please report to sick bay."

"Acknowledged." The reply was as curt and businesslike as Spike expected. Despite himself, he was curious to see the former Borg drone.

Dawn didn't notice. She was entirely focused on what the doctor had said. None of what he implied promised anything good for her, and she grew more agitated still when the answer to his questions occurred to her. "Oh," she said with rising dread. "The Key thing." She glanced fearfully around, as if expecting Glory or Oberon to jump out at her. 

"Key thing?" The doctor asked curiously. The captain also perked up. Dawn found their attention disturbing and glanced at Spike.

"I don't see much choice Dawn. Unless you know how to get us home…" He broke off when he saw her eyes widen in sudden fear. "Dawnie," he began more softly. "Tell me what happened."

Dawn looked down, lips pursed. "Um, I only want to do this once, so, uh, could we wait a bit? Till everyone who needs to hear it is…here?" The reprieve was short lived. Seconds later Seven of Nine, late of the Borg collective, entered the room and approached the captain with an air of impatience. 

"My analysis of the inter-dimensional rift is incomplete. I will require more time to collect data before I can reach any meaningful conclusions."

"We have some information for you Seven, that's why I called." She gestured to the bed where Dawn sat staring at the imperious blonde in trepidation. "Please Dawn, tell us what you can."

"I-I don't really know all that much. I remember Oberon saying he could help me. He was so persuasive. I wanted to believe that he could help. That he could make it so I wasn't helpless." She looked guiltily at Spike. "This is my fault."

"No," Spike shook his head resignedly. "The bloody prat would have found a way to get what he wanted regardless. What happened next?"

"Um… I'm not sure. There was like… a … a dream with such weird imagery and then…" she paled at the memory. "He was doing something to me… inside." She gestured to her chest. "He was trying to get control of the Key… Then Glory was there. Its just pain after that. I think I s-screwed up bad Spike." 

"Not your fault bit," Spike assured her. "He would have found some way of getting what he wanted whether you cooperated or not, and don't tell me your blaming yourself for Glory?" Dawn didn't answer. She just looked miserable.

"What exactly is going on?" Janeway asked, cutting off Seven's more impatient response to the conversation. "How did she get you here?"

Spike considered and then glanced at Dawn who was staring at the deck and biting her lip. She wasn't going to be able to help. "Long version or short?"

"Start with the short."

"Dawn's only been human for about 10 months. Before that she was a ball of energy called the Key. There was these monks who guarded the Key for centuries, but they went and got themselves slaughtered by a hell-god, goes by the name of Glorificus. The monks managed to hide the Key where they thought it would be safe." He nodded at Dawn. "Didn't work out. Glory figured out where it was. Dawn's big sister is tough, and I'm no slouch, but even with all of us worikin' together we could barely slow Glory down. We had to run."

"Run here?" Janeway asked, setting aside all of the new questions that his explanation had raised and getting to the heart of the matter.

Spike snorted. "You see anyone else? You see her big sis or the witches? Even that useless bricklayer? No. We went to Avalon. Oberon, the guy in charge there, agreed to let us stay for a while." He growled in frustration. "Shoulda known he was just playin' us. He wanted the Key for himself. He didn't know what he was messin' with though. He screwed it up."

"How?" Janeway glanced at Dawn. "What precisely is the Key?" Dawn didn't answer. She was hugging herself and staring into space. "Dawn?" The doctor ran a quick scan. Frowning he turned to the captain, but she held up a hand forestalling his objections as well as her astrometrics officers' interruption. "A key opens something. What do you open? What doors?"

"No."

"You…the Key, doesn't open doors?" This was confusing, as well as hard to believe.

"I don't like to think about it," she said shakily. "It's like it hurts to remember this stuff." She shook her head, "so weird." Dawn concentrated though, focusing with an effort that even Spike could see from across the room. "It starts that way. A door opens, but it gets bigger. It keeps going. The Key knocks down walls."

"Between dimensions?" Yours and ours?" The captain glanced at Seven who was listening with interest but otherwise giving nothing away.

"NO!" Dawn cried. "You don't get it!" She jumped down and began to pace. "The Key…I don't just…all….all the walls. I was made to break all the walls. Every barrier between every dimension." She shuddered, and added quietly. "All fall down till its all one. All chaos."

***********************************************************************

"Dawn's portal is here, but…" Titania frowned in consternation. "There is nothing on the other side."

"What do you mean nothing?" Giles asked, staring at what looked to him like a smear of color in the air. Even he could feel the tingle of Fay magic. Glaring at the sealed portal gained him nothing though. He could not see beyond the seal that had been placed over it, and apparently, neither could Lady Titania.

"I'm not sure. There is no solid land within reach of my senses. In fact, I can sense nothing on the other side."

"You mean the portal opened high in the sky or something?" Anya looked upset at the prospect. "Oh, splat." Giles shot her an angry look and prepared to retort, but Titania spoke first.

"No. There is no air on the other side. No ground. Nothing." Her frown deepened. "It is almost as if…" She broke off, not wishing to complete the thought.

"What?" Giles insisted.

"As if the portal opened into space."

************************************************************************

Dawn had lapsed into silence. Janeway stared at her uncomprehending. What the girl was telling them was absurd, scientifically impossible. The fact that she seemed terrified was hardly convincing. A child her age couldn't be expected to know any better. "I don't understand," the captain started carefully. "What you're saying sounds impossible."

"It is," Seven assured her, glancing up from the tricorder the doctor had handed her, reviewing the unusual readings. "There is no relevant information to be had here."

Spike snorted at this. "'Scientifically impossible,'" he mimicked. "This from people who spent years only following the laws of nature when it was convenient to the plot?" Janeway didn't know how to respond to that so she didn't bother, putting off the question she could see Seven preparing to ask with a muttered 'don't ask.' "Are vampires also impossible?" he continued archly. Janeway finally glanced at him and then at the doctor.

The hologram shrugged. "He has no life signs that I can detect. He doesn't breathe, he has no pulse or circulation, and he has no brain activity that I can detect." He glanced at Spike, as if wanting to add something more on that subject, but restrained himself. "Simply because we're not familiar with his species, however, doesn't make him an 'undead blood sucking fiend.'"

"I resemble that remark."

"Spike, please," Dawn interrupted. "Just… just don't get started."

"Sorry Dawn," he said with what sounded like honest contrition. He considered briefly. "All right captain. You tell me. How did we get here and how do we get back?"

Setting aside everything else she focused on that problem. Whatever the child's claims, they had no bearing on that problem. How could they get their visitors back where they belonged? "I need to know more about how you got here. What can you tell me about the anomaly that brought you here?"

She glanced at Seven who had given back the tricorder. Her astrometrics officer didn't shrug, but she might as well have. "The readings are unusual captain. The Borg have no records of this particular type of energy. There are similarities to emissions from certain types of temporal and spatial anomalies, however the energy that seems to serve in the place of the electrochemical energy that serves most carbon based life forms is both weaker and more constant than any phenomenon encountered to date. I suspect it is natural to her species."

"Her species?" Spike broke in incredulously. "Some brain you got here captain. Even I can tell she's human."

Seven regarded him coldly. "Humans do not generate that type of energy." She glanced at the doctor.

"True enough, but without doing a full genetic scan I can't find any other evidence that she is anything other than human."

"What we need to know," Janeway cut them off, wanting to head off a debate and the clash of egos that was sure to follow. "What we need to do is figure out how to get them home. 

"Dawn already told you everything we know," Spike said irritably. "She might be able to open it again, if she knew how and could open just one at a time. Thing is, I really don't think you want her opening portals to a dozen different hell dimensions inside your ship."

"Hell dimensions?"

"There are a lot of places, dimensions, that you really don't want to visit. Places a whole lot worse than anything you've seen. I've been to one or two of them. Fairly mild, but still not anyplace a human would survive long."

"It would be bad," Dawn nodded. "It happened before. I saw Glory get hauled off by a giant octopus thing. She'll probably rip it apart, and unless the door is closed, she'll be back to try to get me again."

"Why does she want you?" the doctor asked, rather rudely.

"Because I can do this. Open the portals."

"To hell?" the doctor's tone spoke volumes about his willingness to accept their story.

"Enough doctor," Janeway interrupted. "We'll do what we can to get you home. I just wish we had more details."

"I-I… can't help you. I don't know how." 

Janeway suppressed a sigh. "Well, we'll start with what we know." She tapped her com badge. "Mr. Paris, return us to the position at which the anomaly opened. I want comprehensive scans of the area. Coordinate your efforts with Seven of Nine."

"Aye captain."

"Seven, you'd better get back to your analysis. Compare the doctor's readings to sensor readings taken when the anomaly opened. See if you can establish a connection and determine if we can use it to control the opening of another portal." The ex-Borg looked dubious, but she nodded.

"Aye, captain." She looked like she had more questions but decided against asking them.

Janeway turned back to Dawn when Seven had gone. "We'll do what we can." 

The girl gave her a cautious smile. "Thank you." She glanced over at Spike. "Do you think you could let him out? He won't attack anyone else."

Janeway regarded the vampire with a slight frown. "We'll have no more trouble from you?"

"What would be the point?" Spike asked. After a moment's consideration, Janeway lowered the forcefield. "Thank you," he said with exaggerated politeness. "You hungry Dawn?' shifting his attention to her, hoping to distract her while their…very odd benefactors tried to solve their problem. 

Dawn nodded, welcoming the distraction. She glanced at the doctor, who shrugged. "Couldn't hurt," he allowed, "and there's nothing actually wrong with you. I'll run some tests and see if I can't find out more about your…energy." 

"I'll show you to the mess hall," Janeway offered. They nodded and followed.

************************************************************************

"I still sense the Key's energy. Dawn is alive." A collective sigh of relief made the rounds. "She is some distance away though." A puzzled frown settled on her features. "She is approaching the opening, very fast."

"Through a void?" Anya asked. "What is she in a space ship or something?" Her mocking tone brought a frown to the Fay queen's face.

"We will know soon enough," she replied, her patience strained by the former demon.

************************************************************************

"A glass of O positive for Spike." The vampire blinked in surprise. "Oh don't look so surprised," Dawn waved dismissively. "It is what you eat."

"Er, O positive?" Neelix looked confused.

"Blood," Dawn explained. "He prefers human." The stocky alien glanced at him, trying to conceal the alarm he felt at the notion. Spike shrugged.

"I'm a vampire. What should I feed on? Chocolate malts?"

"Not if you wanna keep that figure," Dawn quipped. Spike gave her a mock glare, but was glad to see that Dawn had, once again, bounced back, even if she was trying a little too hard, the attempts at her normal good humor being rather forced. It seemed she only got sad and weird when someone brought up her status as the Key. At other times, she shoved away all thoughts of it and was almost normal again, almost. He didn't want to put any more stress on her than she already had, so he followed her example.

"Can't have that." He took up the glass Neelix set before him and sniffed delicately. "Don't recognize the species."

"You can tell the difference?" Neelix looked decidedly nervous. Voyager had hosted a variety of strange visitors, but none of them had ever asked for human blood. Still, he was the ship's ambassador. "I got as close as I could. The replicator won't produce human blood. This is from an Earth species though. Cow I believe."

"Hmm." Spike took a sip. "Not bad," he could tell it was fake without being told, but it would do, he decided.

"And here is your 'hamburger,'" he set the plate in front of Dawn, who smiled.

"Thanks Neelix." She dug in ravenously. The hedgehog like alien blinked in surprise.

"How did you know my name?"

"You wouldn't believe it," Spike smirked. "Not sure I do," he glanced at Dawn speculatively. "Thought you had better taste in programs niblet."

Dawn considered her answer, blushing slightly. "I used to watch with Willow, I had… kind of a crush on Robert Duncan." Neelix looked back and forth between the two in polite confusion. "Why not ask the captain?" she suggested, taking pity on him. "This is a little weird even by your standards or ours."

"Got that right," Spike muttered eyeing a pretty young ensign he had seen in a toothpaste commercial only… was it the night before? It seemed ages ago. "Which one's Duncan again?" Dawn glanced around the room and blushed when she saw the object of her temporary infatuation having dinner with the half-Klingon engineer. Spike saw the direction of her glance and grinned. "And who did red have a crush on?"

"Jeri Ryan." The answer was grudging, as if betraying a secret. "Don't tell Tara."

Neelix wandered away, realizing they were not going to enlighten him. He glanced around for the captain, thinking briefly of following the girl's suggestion, but the captain had left for astrometrics to work with Seven.

He made his way over to Harry Kim who had come in and was watching their guests with a strange expression on his face. Dawn watched them out of the corner of her eye as they talked quietly. Harry shook his head and made his way toward them. She braced herself for awkward questions, but all in all it was better than questions about how she opened portals. 

"Um," Harry approached hesitantly. "We're approaching the spot where the anomaly appeared. The captain wants you in the shuttle bay." They glanced at each other and rose to their feet.

************************************************************************

"The energies are the same captain. There is no doubt, but I do not understand how such energy could sustain organic life, let alone give her the abilities she claims to possess."

"I don't understand it either Seven, but these scans do seem to reveal a…sympathy between the anomaly's fluctuations and the girl's neuro-synaptic activity."

They silently considered the puzzle for a time, running projections and simulations based on what little they knew. "An entertainment?" Seven finally ventured. The captain nodded.

"That's what they said."

"Do you believe them?" Janeway shrugged and shook her head.

"I don't know. They knew things about us that weren't in any log."

"Telepathy perhaps?"

"To what end?" Seven had no answer to that. "Getting them home is the right thing to do. We won't go into anything blind though. That's why I want to know everything about these 'portals' I can." She considered the results of the latest simulation carefully.

"There are too many unknowns," Seven concluded, echoing her Janeway's own thoughts.

"Our readings should become clearer as we get closer. We can run more direct tests."

"Good. This aspect is especially interesting." She indicated two columns of numbers that fluctuated with the two waveforms that were displayed next to them. "The rate of particle decay is different. I believe that time is passing at a different rate on the other side." She keyed in a few more commands and the display changed.

"It's not just time that's different there," Janeway breathed. "I'm not quite sure what we're seeing, but it's well worth the risk of a closer look."

"We should not get too close to the opening. I recommend a minimum safe distance of 10,000 km."

"Agreed. We'll be in range in a few minutes. A closer approach should be possible with a shuttle craft." She tapped her combadge. "Mr. Kim, would you fetch our guests and bring them to the shuttle bay?"

"Aye captain."

************************************************************************

"I don't think you're gonna get a shuttle through that," Spike observed practically. Janeway frowned in mild irritation, but nodded. The screen that displayed the ship's position and size relative to the anomaly clearly showed that that was impractical. 

Fortunately, Janeway reflected; that was not their intention. It floated in space before them, looking, to Dawn like a tear in a movie screen. She didn't bother to look at the screen. She didn't need to. Although it was still some distance away, but she could feel it, and the feeling grew stronger as they grew closer. She could feel it and knew that if she concentrated she could know it, affect it even, but she shied away from the knowledge, as she did from the open hangar bay door.

"Don't worry," Janeway assured her. "With the safety field in place, there's no danger." 

"Relax niblet," Spike added absently, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"Easy for you to say. You don't breathe," she reminded in the most acid tone she could muster. She was too scared to put much into it though and Spike glanced back at her, almost as if reading her mind. He approached her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"We're goin' home Dawn. An' I'll make that Oberon git set things right." They both knew there was no chance of Spike forcing the Fay lord to do anything, but the effort brought a slight smile to Dawn's face, and she seemed to rally a bit.

"Thanks Spike. I-I'll manage without either of us getting turned into little piles of ash." Her smile was tremulous, but it was there and Spike pulled forward to join the discussion.

"Perhaps we can move the ship to encompass it," Harry was saying.

"I would advise against it," Tuvok answered quickly. "We don't know what might happen. There is too little data on this phenomenon."

"We know it opened inside the ship originally," he countered.

"Yes," the security chief answered dryly, "and the damage control parties are still at work."

Spike ignored their bickering as _Voyager_ inched closer to the anomaly. The ship stopped at what Tuvok obviously considered a perilously short distance. Even with his keen eyesight he could barely make it out, but Dawn, he noted didn't seem to have that trouble. Her eyes were fixed, unwaveringly, on the still distant opening. "I feel it," she said suddenly," her voice firmer than he had expected. "It's stable and safe. Well, as safe as it can be."

"Stable?" Janeway asked curiously. She broke off from explaining her plans for examining the anomaly.

"I don't understand it." Dawn concentrated, even though it gave her the willies. She didn't want to. She so didn't want to, but she could feel it. The proximity of the portal pulled at her awareness in a way that she didn't quite understand. Ignoring it was impossible and the attempt to do so was more disturbing than the effort it took to focus. "It's sealed from the other side…sorta like that," she gestured at the safety field.

"Will it get us back?" Spike asked. He wasn't sure how long Dawn would remain stable while trying to concentrate on the portal. It was clearly a strain on her, and he guessed that she'd rather be doing anything else. If he was going to ask the questions he needed to it, had to be before she decided to deal with it by not dealing.

"Y-yes," the voice was a bit faint and she didn't elaborate.

"All right then. You should be able to move the ship so that's in the garage." He pointed at the tear. "The sooner the better for all of us I think." Janeway regarded him tolerantly.

"Let's not be hasty. We're going to run some more scans before we try anything of the kind." She turned to Harry Kim. "What about a probe?"

"Send a probe through the barrier that's keeping Oberon's garden from being sucked into space?" Dawn asked with a laugh. "He'd love that."

"Do it only if little bit and I can watch from a safe distance," Spike suggested. Janeway's glance revealed ebbing patience this time, but she acknowledged the point. 

"What about the transporter?"

Seven shook her head. "We cannot scan beyond the tear, so we cannot use the transporter." Other options were considered, but no one had any better ideas. An attempt to send a signal through the barrier got no response, if one didn't count Spike rolling his eyes and whispering something that made Dawn giggle.

The vampire's antics were beginning to annoy her. The only mitigating circumstance was Dawn. She could see how nervous the girl was and Spike's efforts to distract her were affective, and probably, she reasoned, for the best, even if they did come at the expense of a star ship captain's dignity.

A call from the bridge interrupted any response she might have had to Spike's barb. "Captain," Tom Paris called, sounding stressed, "_Voyager_ is moving closer to the anomaly."

"I ordered you to hold position."

"It's not us captain. Something is pulling us toward it."

Janeway turned to find Seven already pulling up a new display. "Its some sort of tractor beam captain. _Voyager_ is being pulled toward the opening."

"Why didn't we detect this sooner?"

"It's not like anything we've encountered before. It does not register on sensors at all; I can only infer its nature from the affect it is having on the ship." 

"Mr. Paris, apply thrusters, try to hold position."

"Wouldn't advise that," Spike cautioned.

"What do you mean? Are you somehow responsible?"

Spike snorted in amusement. "'Course not, but its likely that whoever is doin' it is just tryin' to get Dawn and me back. Gotta be somebody with powerful magic to affect something _Voyager's_ size."

"No one wants to hurt the ship captain," Dawn assured her. "Just let us get to the portal and I think we can all go our own ways."

"I don't seem to have a choice," her face was set in a mask that Dawn remembered well from the show.

"It'll be okay. I promise."

"I'll hold you to it."

After a rapid assessment of their options, they were left with the one originally suggested by Harry. Slowly and carefully, _Voyager_ moved so that the rift was inside the shuttle bay. The pull stopped when Janeway ordered that Tom Paris move the ship into position himself, not trusting someone she couldn't see to make the final, careful maneuvers necessary. 

They watched on a monitor, outside the bay, as the bay doors were closed and air was pumped in. The inner doors finally opened and Dawn and Spike were the first through. Tuvok, Janeway, Seven, and Harry entered more hesitantly, Seven barely glancing up from the tricorder she carried. Her intense fascination with the portal and her very direct and often incomprehensible questions had made the visitors wary and the lack of concrete answers had made the ex-Borg frustrated. Spike and Dawn were more than ready to leave and approached the portal without hesitation. 

It hung in the air before them looking, Dawn thought, less like a rabbit hole than anything she had ever seen. However it looked though, it felt right. It felt like it led back to the garden; to Buffy.

As if on cue, the portal began to crackle and move like a banner in a gently blowing breeze. Tuvok called for them to back away, but Spike waved him off. "Relax. This is what it looks like when its open." They turned back to face the _Voyager_ crew. "Well," he said, warily eyeing Seven, standing nearer to the portal than he liked with her scanner, "it's been giggles, but we really must be off."

Dawn was about to add her good-byes, when they were interrupted. A faint but rapidly growing sound that combined an asthmatic wheeze with the gear grinding death rattle of a truck engine about to give up the ghost drew their attention to a corner of the bay. A shape was beginning to materialize there. First to appear was a flashing light, roughly eight feet above the deck, but it was quickly followed by the outline of a tall blue box. When a placard bearing the words 'POLICE CALL BOX' faded into view, the two traded unreadable expressions. "Voyager was bad enough," Spike muttered. "I am not sticking around for _this!_" Without another word they turned to the portal and jumped.

THE END…FOR NOW


	3. Gonna Have a Revolution

AVALON'S GLORY III

Gonna Have a Revolution

DISCLAIMER:  I don't own any of the characters from Gargoyles or BTVS and don't make any money off of this, so don't bother suing. This is just for fun. This story takes most of season five into account.  My thanks to StorySeeker for the basic idea and the help he provided by beta reading my work.

SUMMARY:  The Key has been activated and scattered gargoyles and humans across worlds known and unknown.  Buffy and Cyril of the Avalon clan find themselves aiding a besieged clan while trying to find their way home.

Cyril winced as he struggled upright.  What happened?  Where was he?  Wherever it was, the light was so bright that he was nearly blinded when he opened his eyes.  "Where am I?"  He looked down at the source of the voice, surprised to find it coming from a weight on his chest that he had barely noticed before, but then remembered that the Slayer had been with him.

She was sprawled on top of him.  Buffy's eyes widened when she realized where she was and the awkward position she was in and quickly rolled away.  "Uh sorry.  I should really watch where I'm falling," she joked.

"Quite all right," he assured her while quickly rising.  "As to where we are… I'm not certain.  Why is it so bright?"

"Huh?"  Buffy glanced over at her unwitting traveling companion and discovered that his eyes were tightly shut.  "Open your eyes."

"Trying," he answered, shading his eyes with a hand and gradually cracking them.  "What manner of light is this?  Is the palace burning?"  The Slayer stared at him in bewilderment, and after a moment he understood why.  There was no fire.  There was no palace.  The light was coming from what he realized could only be the sun.  He gasped, raising his eyes to take in the wondrous sight and instantly regretted it.  "Ahh.  So bright.  I never knew the sun would be like this!"

"Try suns, plural.  There are two of them up there."  Something occurred to her belatedly.  "Hey, aren't gargoyles supposed to sleep during the day?"

"Indeed we are.  I do not understand this.  It could be that sunlight here is different in some way."

"Could be," Buffy murmured in a non-committal tone, "but the big question is where is here?"

"It's not Avalon, nor any part of the outside world, not with two suns."

"Not ours anyway.  We must have gone through one of Dawn's portals."  A glance around the meadow they found themselves in, however, failed to reveal anything that looked like a way home.  They weren't left to contemplate the problem for long though, before a new one came to their attention.  

"Horses," Buffy pointed, "coming from that direction."

"Perhaps we'll get some answers."

"Or perhaps we'll be attacked.  Might be a good idea to get out of sight till we know who we're dealing with."  She led the way to the nearest copse of trees.  She detested the idea of hiding, but there was too much they didn't know about their situation, so caution, for the moment, had to dictate their actions.  A group of armored demons rode out of the trees.  Their skin was pale gray and the chain mail they wore provided an odd sort of echo to the horses' hooves.  

Buffy watched as they rode by, not planning to reveal herself, but then she saw something the changed her mind.  Following behind the demons was an animal drawn cart with several bound human prisoners.  They were a ragged looking bunch, and some had clearly been beaten into submission.

"Criminals?" Cyril ventured hopefully.

"Slaves," Buffy answered with certainty.  "Or maybe sacrifices."  The gargoyle sighed.  He had known that.  It couldn't be simple after all.  They moved silently along what appeared to be an animal track, paralleling the riders while Buffy worked out the best strategy for freeing the prisoners.

A sound from above derailed that train of thought.  The sound of wings followed by a roar, unlike anything she had heard before.  "Gargoyles!" Cyril breathed and Buffy looked up to see five winged figures swoop down on the riders brandishing a variety of weapons.

The battle was quickly and furiously joined.  The first rank of demons was swept from their mounts, thoroughly taken by surprise.  Those riding behind caused their horses to rear, slashing the air and one unfortunate gargoyle with roughshod hooves.  

Cyril darted forward as the horse began to descend and pulled the fallen gargoyle from harm's way.  Buffy grabbed the rider by the arm that held a sword, taking a moment to be impressed that the rider had held his seat and drawn a weapon at the same time.  The admiration didn't keep her from yanking him from his saddle though, or throwing him as hard as she could against a tree.  Snatching up his sword, she moved quickly to the next rider who was only beginning to draw his weapon, she thrust her borrowed blade into his unprotected side.

Then she had passed the soldiers and was at the cage.  Two quick slashes opened the crude gate while a glance to the side showed the remaining gargoyles making short work of the demons.  Cyril was watching in astonishment and fending off any attempts on the wounded gargoyle.  They were, Buffy had to admit, very efficient; the battle was soon over.  

Upon landing, the gargoyle that was apparently in charge came toward Cyril.  "We thank you for the aid friend.  Of what Hold are you?"

"Hold?  I am from the Avalon clan."  At the blank look he hastened to explain.  "I doubt you would know it.  My friend and I are a long way from home."  The leader turned to look at Buffy who was helping the last of the prisoners out of the cage.  

"Friend?"  The gargoyle gave her a distinctly unfriendly look.  "This cow is your friend?"

"Watch who you're calling cow," Buffy objected.  The gargoyle, a brown-skinned male with two straight horns rising from his brow ridge, ignored her, still looking at Cyril for answers.

"Yes she is."  He frowned.  "I don't understand.  "You attacked these creatures to save the humans didn't you?"

The other glanced at the humans who were making rapid progress away from the group of gargoyles and snorted disdainfully.  "They know the location of our Hold.  Humans themselves are harmless, cowardly vermin, but as slaves they might betray the location of our home to the new king's forces."

"This king is your enemy?"  The other gargoyles looked at him strangely.  

"You must be from far away indeed not to know of the Grusulug.  He became king after the priesthood was overthrown."  He gave a growl of frustration.  "We had hoped that things might change under a new ruler, but we have traded one tyrant for another."

"He said he would do away with the injustices of the past," a small gray female with wings like Lexington's growled, "but, if anything, the situation has gotten worse."

"Enough," the leader raised his hand to forestall a third from chiming in.  "We should not burden our new friend with our problems.  Come, you will be our guest at our Hold.  We long for news of other gargoyles.  The nearest Hold to our own is a week's travel away."

"We would be honored," Cyril replied inclining his head.  The leader glanced at Buffy.

"The c…human may not feel welcome there.  We have not gotten on well with them in the past.  There will be none of her own kind there."

"If she is not welcome," Cyril answered without hesitation or apparent ire, "then I must decline your invitation.  We are far from home and need to find our way back."

"Very well," he answered after a moment's thought.  "We cannot turn away another gargoyle.  The human will be welcomed."

"Thanks so much," Buffy muttered.

Cyril carried Buffy, ignoring the odd looks he received, to the top of the cliff where the clan made its home.  It was inaccessible to anyone without wings. The sight that greeted them was incredible.  The area, they soon learned from their hosts, was a large mesa that was thought by most to be barren and unlivable.  What most did not know was that the mesa concealed a small lake around which a forest had grown.  The clan had carved their homes out of the rock.  Dozens of gargoyles going about their business in the bright sunlight made for an incredible sight and one that Cyril certainly never thought he would see.  Buffy, he noted, seemed uncomfortable.  "It is a strange sight," he offered quietly, "but do not be concerned.  Regardless of where we are, they are still gargoyles, natural protectors."  Buffy nodded, trying to look reassured.  She was used to killing creatures that looked like this, but had long ago learned not to judge by appearances.  

The visitors were not the only ones staring.  Wherever they passed, the inhabitants would stop and stare at Buffy.  Two small children, slightly younger, she thought, than Ariana ran up to her and stared wide-eyed at her.  "Um, hello," she offered.  One of them, the braver of the two apparently, reached out and touched her hand; then both turned and ran away giggling.  They were met ten steps away by an angry looking female gargoyle who gathered the children to her speaking harshly to them before casting the Slayer a warning glare.

"I take it humans aren't common around here."

"Not exactly," the leader of the small raiding party scoffed.  He was about to say more when a commotion drew their attention.  A large, red skinned male with horns like those of a bull was making his way through the crowd, flanked by an elderly female and a diminutive male.  "Leader," the gargoyles drew themselves up straight.

"What is the meaning of this Second?  Why have you brought a cow to our Hold?"

"Again," Buffy spoke up irritably, "not a cow."  The leader ignored her, but the elderly female regarded her curiously.

"Leader, we encountered these two in the forest while fighting the king's troops.  This one," he indicated Cyril, "insisted on bringing her along.  I knew you would want to meet him."  Cyril stepped forward.

"A pleasure leader.  I am called Cyril.  I'm of the Avalon clan."

"You have a name?" the elder asked curiously.  "You must live closely with the humans."

"We do," Cyril nodded.

"Disgusting," a random voice from the small crowd around them opined.

"Our history tells us that gargoyles and humans lived together in peace," the elder answered.  "It is good to know that that tradition persists in places."

The leader examined Buffy closely for a moment.  "Perhaps that was true once," he turned to the elder.  "Have you forgotten why that changed?"

"I have not forgotten," the elder replied, a note of steel creeping into her tone, "but you have forgotten your manners.  Is this how we greet guests to our home?"  The leader looked down, like a guilty child being chastised by a parent.

"She is right," he said reluctantly turning to Buffy and Cyril.  "Forgive my discourtesy.  We have had difficulties with humans in the past.  I fear your people are not well regarded."

"Kinda got that impression, but I'm not your enemy.  I've gotten along well with gargoyles I've met in the past, and I know you're decent people."  It was a half-truth.  She hadn't gotten on that well with the Manhattan clan, at least not at first.  "Anyway, I don't expect we'll be here long.  As soon as we find a way home we'll need to be going."

"Find a way home?  You don't know where it is?"

"Kind of a long story."

"By all means," the leader answered, sounding intrigued, "let us have a meal and you can tell it to us."

***

"Portals," the elder mused.  "I have heard of such things.  According to the oldest stories, that is how the first gargoyles came to Pylea.  Perhaps there is something in our records that can help you."

"I would really appreciate that," Buffy offered the old gargoyle a sincere smile.

"Indeed.  Any news of portals or a way to find information would be most welcome."

"It is said that the priests controlled the portals," said a gargoyle farther down the table they had all settled around for dinner.  The speaker, a delicate looking female with skin that was a distinctive shade of pale blue and sable hair, received reproving looks from those around her.  "That is the way it is told by the Deathwalk Clan."

"You think these priests could tell us how to get home?" Cyril asked, ignoring the reaction her words had caused.  Buffy glanced around; noting the disapproving looks and wondered at the source of the friction.

"Unlikely," the leader interrupted.  "The priests were overthrown by the Grusulug, and he is unlikely to aid you.  He made many promises, but has kept not a one."  He snorted.  "Equality for all peoples.  Nonsense!"

"It did not happen quite that way leader," the young female objected.  Her words, though timidly spoken brought disapproving glares from around the table.

"Of course," he allowed.  "You would know better young one, as you spend more time with outsiders than you do in your own Hold tending to your work."  The female looked down at the table, shame-faced.  "By all means, enlighten us.  Do something useful by aiding our guests."

Buffy straightened; taking offense at the way the girl was being treated.  Cyril laid a hand on her arm and gave a slight shake of his head.  After a deep breath and a count to ten, she nodded, realizing that aggravating the clan leader would not help their case.  Instead she looked at the gargoyle, and smiled encouragingly.

"Well," the female spoke hesitantly.  "The story is that the prophecy was fulfilled by a female c-, ah human.  She had the visions and the priests elevated her.  They made her princess and summoned the Grusulug to become her mate."  She glanced at Buffy and Cyril.  "You see the Grusulug was the priests' champion.  He killed the dangerous beasts that threatened the peace of the land and kept order among those who questioned the priests."

"An enforcer," Buffy muttered, nodding.

"Not so.  A great warrior to be sure, but he did not kill dissenters.  The priests had their troops for that.  The Grusulug was more a symbol of their power.  All that changed though when the princess came.  A prophecy told of one who was cursed with visions of the future.  She would seal the priests' power when her visions passed to the Grusulug, their servant."

"I take it things didn't go as planned."

"Not at all.  The Grusulug, or so I have heard, fell in love with the princess at first sight.  For her sake he defied the priests and aided the human rebels who overthrew the priests.  One account says that the princess herself slew the head priest.  She lay down the laws by which the Grusulug was to govern."

"So what happened to this princess?"

The blue-skinned female shrugged.  "Accounts vary.  One says that she came to Pylea by a portal herself and used the priests' knowledge to return home.  Another says she was banished by the Grusulug who then seized the throne himself.  It is hard to separate fact from fancy."

"So this Grusulug thing is king now huh?  Princess went away one way or another and he's in charge?"  The gargoyle nodded.  "So what kind of laws did she leave him to work with?"

"Equality regardless of race," she answered promptly.  "An end to slavery for the humans and the right to believe as each person sees fit."

"I think I like this princess.  She have a name?"

"I'm sure she did," the leader answered evenly, "being human, but I've never heard it spoken."  He turned back to the young female and glared.  "Perhaps she knows, being so concerned with matters beyond our Hold."  The female shook her head meekly.  "Regardless, that equality was not granted.  Promises made have not been kept."  He sighed.  "Dangerous though it may be, I believe that the king may be the only one who can help you return to whence you came."

"You are gracious indeed clan leader.  We appreciate any help you can offer," Cyril answered quickly, not sure Buffy would answer in a civil manner.  He could tell that she disapproved of the way the female was being treated, and he shared her sentiments, but it would not do to insult their host.

"We can provide you with maps, set you on the right path, but we cannot venture too far from our Hold."  He sat back after a few more bites of the stew they had been served.  "It will wait until morning though.  For tonight we must rest.  There will be much to do tomorrow."

The group broke up, and the two visitors were shown to rooms set aside for them.  Before parting Buffy drew Cyril aside.  "Thanks," she began simply.  "I probably didn't make much of an impression in there.  The way he was-"

"I know.  I wasn't pleased by the leader's behavior toward the female either, but this is their land, and they have their own ways."

"And its not our business," Buffy finished, accepting it, but still not happy.  She gave him a wry grin.  "I tend to react rather than think things through sometimes.  Gets me into trouble.  Tell you what, you handle the diplomacy, and if something needs killing just point me at it."

"You are considerably more than a weapon," he protested.  "Much more," he added quietly after she had smiled gratefully at him and gone into her room.  Without knowing precisely what he felt for her, it was difficult to know how to proceed.  He knew his brothers and sisters laughed over his brief and sometimes intense infatuations with various females.  It usually didn't bother him.  He enjoyed them in his own way; all of his brothers and sisters were only now really coming of age for mating.  They all had their moments, their infatuations.  Cyril was simply more outspoken.  He sometimes regretted that.  Although he was on good terms with most of them, the females of the clan seemed to no longer take him seriously.

The female Fay certainly didn't.  He had tried his charm on them, but the best result had been a fit of laughter.  Buffy was a different matter.  He had known no humans except the guardian and princess Katherine, and wasn't quite sure what to expect from Buffy.  He certainly didn't know how she would react if he tried to flirt with her as he did with his rookery sisters.  _It's just another infatuation_, he told himself, _grow up_.  He did admire Buffy though; there was no denying that, and no denying that she was beautiful by the standards of any race.  Again, he dismissed those thoughts.  There were more important things to focus on.  They had to get home.  That thought firmly in mind, he went into his room to rest for what was sure to be a busy day.

***

Buffy came awake shortly before dawn to the sounds of gargoyle roars and the clash of weapons.  Pulling on her shoes, the only clothing she had removed in the cold room, she ran through the door to find Cyril already in the corridor looking worried.  "The Hold is under attack," she said without preamble.  "Come on."  She took his hand and pulled him along.

The shock of what was happening wore off quickly as he remembered the weird sisters' attack on Avalon with the Archmage.  He remembered his brothers and sisters scattered about the hall moaning and bleeding while the princess tried to tend to them all.  It would not happen again, he vowed, easily matching the Slayer's pace.

They emerged into the chill night air and saw a group of demons, like those they had fought the day before moving through the Hold attacking the clan.  They struck at males, females, and hatchlings without making any distinction among them.  Buffy was in motion before Cyril had fully taken in the horror before him.  The slope was steep, but she ran at full speed, sure-footed as any gargoyle.  He watched as Buffy slammed into an ax-wielding demon chasing the two hatchlings they had seen the day before.  The demon hit the ground hard, losing his grip on the ax.  The Slayer snatched it from the air and turned it against its owner before moving on to a new opponent.

How had they gotten to the Hold?  Cyril glanced around and soon found the answer.  There were still demons arriving, reinforcements to the large group already present.  They were riding on the backs of large winged creatures.  The flying creatures were vaguely reptilian, but bore no resemblance to the dragons that the magus had described to them.  _Too many legs for a start._  Instead of dashing down the slope as Buffy had, he launched himself into the air to join the defenders flying to meet the mounted demons.  

The rest of the battle passed in a blur and he later remembered it only in flashes.  A sword slashing at his head, a scream as a demon was flung from its mount.  The gargoyle clan's second seized by one of the flying creatures and torn apart; these and other images stayed in his mind like a persistent stain.  He suspected they would be there whenever he closed his eyes for years to come.

Finally though, it was over.  The surviving demons retreated.  There weren't many of them.  Unfortunately the gargoyles had taken heavy casualties as well.  The clan second was dead, as were fifteen other gargoyles.  Buffy heard whimpering from a small niche in the cliff face, just large enough to conceal two small children.  The hatchlings that she had saved earlier were there.  One of them was clearly dead.  The other looked up at her with glassy eyes and hugged the corpse to her.  Buffy went to find help, trying not to think about the blood and the deep, probably fatal, wounds in the survivor's body.  _I should have kept track of them, protected them_, she thought mournfully, shoving aside the memories of those she had saved.  It was the ones she didn't that always mattered.  She directed one of the elders to the hatchlings' hiding place and moved on.  _Like I always do_.  

Her glum thoughts were quickly forgotten when a cry that was equal parts rage and disbelief drew her attention.  She found the leader kneeling over the mangled remains of a demon that was different from the rest.  The skin was green, but this one had hair and horns, two things the others lacked.

"You know him?" Buffy asked tentatively.

"I know of him," the leader growled.  "This is Parduk of the Deathwalk clan."  He rose to his feet and gave rapid orders to the first gargoyle passing by.  Soon two burly males arrived, escorting the blue female who had told them of the princess the night before.  He pointed to the head, which lay near the corpse.  "This," he snarled, "is your doing!"

Her eyes widened and Buffy saw that the young female recognized Parduk.  "I-I don't understand-"

"It is obvious," the leader growled, glaring at her.  "You foolishly gave up the secrets of our Hold to an outsider and he led these attackers to us."

"H-he wouldn't do that!" she protested.  "Someone must have forced-"

"Stupid girl!" he seethed.  "Are you blind?  He is here, and more than a dozen of our number lie dead!"  He advanced on her, a murderous look in his eye.  Buffy, joined by Cyril who had also been drawn by the shouting, moved to intervene before more blood could be spilled.  It wasn't necessary.  "I have a task for you.  Guide our guests to the king's palace.  I'm certain you know the way.  Perhaps your 'friendly outsiders' will give you a new home.  Do not return here.  You are banished."

She stammered for a moment, trying to muster a defense, but gave up after a moment and hung her head.  "Yes leader."

That dealt with, the leader turned to Buffy and Cyril.  "I owe you an apology and a debt of gratitude.  You put yourselves at risk to protect my people after we were less than welcoming to you.  I can offer little I'm afraid, save my thanks and a guide to your best chance to get home."  He nodded at the female.  "Perhaps you could take this one with you to Avalon."  _The more outsiders in Pylea who know of our whereabouts the more dangerous it is for us._  He didn't say it, but he didn't need to.  "I do not know when or if we might face another attack."

"Then perhaps," Cyril offered, "we should be going."

The leader nodded, obviously grateful that he did not have to actually ask them to leave.

***

An hour later, the three of them left the mesa and flew south, carrying what supplies they could.  They spoke little as they traveled, their guide was subdued, barely meeting their eyes, let alone speaking to them.  

Roughly two hours after leaving, they stopped for a rest.  Cyril approached the female carefully, unsure of how to speak to her.  "How long will it take to reach the king's castle?"

"Perhaps two days," she answered mechanically, looking as bleak as anyone Cyril had ever seen.  She did not elaborate or even meet his eyes, as if afraid of what she would see there.  What did she expect to see, Cyril wondered?  Condemnation?  Hate?

"I wish I knew how to help you," he blurted out.  She looked at him oddly.  "I do not believe what happened was your fault."

"It was," she disagreed.  "I trusted Parduk.  I talked with him while we traded, I told him about our lives.  He must have figured out where we lived."

"You didn't tell him?"  Buffy asked.

"Of course not!" the gargoyle's eyes widened in shock at the suggestion.  "I was commanded not to do so.  Any who dealt with the other races were."  She looked down quickly.  "He must have figured it out though.  He must have somehow known."

"He wasn't armed," Buffy commented, remembering the details.  The female said nothing.  "Doesn't that seem strange?  He came to attack your hold, but he wasn't armed?"

"I-I noticed," she answered in a small voice.

"Why did you say nothing to the leader?"  Cyril asked in astonishment.  "You may have been right about his being forced to help your attackers!"

"It would not matter."  The answer was so quiet that Buffy barely heard it.  "He knew because of me, and that is why the hold was attacked, why people are dead."

"What I still don't understand," Buffy asked instead, "is why they attacked.  What were they after?"

"I don't know.  We don't have anything anyone would want.  We've always stayed apart from the other races.  We don't bother anyone so it can't be a grudge."  She shook her head in frustration.  "I just don't know!"

"Perhaps then," Cyril suggested, "we should find out."

"What are you suggesting?" Buffy asked.

"I can't simply walk away when her clan may be in danger."  Buffy looked uncertain.  "What if another attack comes?  If we learn the reason behind this, we may be able to prevent more violence."

"Okay," Buffy couldn't argue with that, and she didn't want to.  This was the sort of thing she did all the time back home after all.  If she was defending gargoyles instead of a human community, it was only a small difference in her mind.  "So we track the bad guys and find out what they want.  First step to stopping them."

Cyril nodded.  "I suggest we start with this 'Deathwalk Clan.'  Perhaps we will learn something from them."  The others nodded in agreement.

"Before we move on," Buffy started hesitantly, "one thing."  Cyril and the female looked at her expectantly.  "I've heard about the tradition of gargoyles not taking names for themselves.  Don't really understand it… I mean, how do you tell each other apart?"

"You wish to have something to call me," she surmised smiling.  "Yes, the outsiders I dealt with had the same problem."  She considered a moment.  "A merchant of the Swiftkill clan, one I often dealt with for supplies that the Hold could not produce, took to calling me Sky at Dawn."  Her coloring grew slightly darker as she blushed and lowered her voice as if admitting a shameful secret.  "I liked it."

"Well, with your coloring," Buffy smiled, "that certainly works.  Mind if we call you Sky for short?"

"That will do."  She looked around self-consciously.  "We should go.  The home of the Deathwalk clan is nearly an hour's journey from here."

***

"So what's the hold-up?" Spike asked looking at the portal.  "If that's where Buffy is, why can't you find her?"

"Its not exactly a broom closet on the other side of that you know?" Anya answered, pushing him away.  "Don't distract her.  We have a time-limit."

"So you pulled us back first," Spike noted looking around.  "Who else is missing?"

"Buffy, Willow, Tara, and Xander.  Two of the gargoyles too." Spike looked pensive.  "Oberon says we only have an hour before he closes the portals himself, so don't bother her.  I want Xander back."  They glanced back to the portal Queen Titania stood before.  She hadn't moved in some time, but her eyes were closed and there was an expression of intense concentration on her face.  The princess and guardian stood with Giles and a few members of the clan who looked on with barely controlled frustration.

"It's all up to Queen Titania.  Leave her to it."

***

They backtracked for a time before Sky recognized a landmark and directed them east toward the Deathwalk clan's home.  Circling what looked like a farmhouse with a thatched roof brought them some unwanted attention.  Several green-skinned demons came out into the open and looked on as they came in for a landing.  

Five unhappy looking demons watched them land.  Buffy couldn't tell whether they were unhappy with her presence or that of the gargoyles.  Sky stepped forward and spoke quietly to a large bearded demon.  Buffy assumed he was the big daddy demon, head of the family.  "Buffy, Cyril," Sky approached with the others following close.  "This is Anras, Matriarch of the Deathwalk clan."  _Okay, big mommy demon_, Buffy nodded, keeping her face neutral.  They were there to deliver bad news after all.

"Sky at Dawn tells me there is news of Parduk."  She glanced disdainfully at Buffy, but didn't comment.  In fact she seemed intent on ignoring her.  "What is the meaning of this?  Where is he?"

"Just before Dawn," Cyril told her, "the Hold was attacked by the forces that serve the king.  Parduk was among them.  I… am sorry to tell you that he did not survive the battle."  Questions erupted from the entire family and it was a few moments before anyone could get a straight answer.  "We don't know why the Hold was attacked, but we do know that Parduk wasn't armed, and that his wounds were not made by gargoyle talons."

"We think," Buffy cut in, "that he was forced to show them the way to the Hold."

"We have no quarrel with the gargoyles," Anras protested, ignoring Buffy.  "We have no reason to attack you, nor does the Grusulug."

"Then why were his soldiers attacking us?"  Sky asked.  "They wore the livery of the king.  They were undoubtedly his soldiers."

"Who knows why that half-cow does anything," Anras spat.  Buffy blinked.  "He could have done as the priests requested and everything would have been fine.  Everything could have stayed as it was," she began a bitter and, Buffy guessed an oft-repeated, rant.  "But no!  He had to fall for that cow princess and try to run the land her way.  Free the slaves indeed!"  Sky opened her mouth to protest, but the other was clearly just getting warmed up.  "Now his foolishness has somehow cost us cousin Parduk!"  

"We want to understand what happened," Sky interrupted.  "Why would the king's army attack the Hold?  Will they do it again?"

"Why did they kill Parduk if he was helping them?" Cyril asked puzzled.  Anras turned a fierce glare on him.  Cyril held his ground though, continuing hastily.  "We found no weapons on him.  It could be they were forcing him."

"I might not like the new laws," Anras growled, "but the Deathwalk clan are not law breakers.  We would not act against the new king."

"Who would?" Buffy asked, beginning to wonder at the story the gargoyle leader had told them.

Anras considered the question seriously a moment.  "There are many who are not happy with the changes the cow wrought in our land.  Some of those might not only wish a return to the old ways but actively work towards it."  

"You think these soldiers might be renegades?"  Sky asked, the notion seeming to shock her.  "Would they dare act without the king's bidding?"

Anras gave her what might be considered a pitying look.  "Not all are as loyal to their leaders as gargoyles are to theirs."  Her fierce expression softened somewhat.  "It is possible.  Although I do not know why they would attack your home, it seems the most likely explanation.  How do your kin fair?"

"The attackers were turned away with heavy casualties, but we lost more than a dozen of our people."  Anras nodded sadly if somewhat brusquely.  Sky turned to her traveling companions.  "We should go straight to the king.  If these are indeed renegades then the king should know at once.  It might prevent another attack."

"He should know what we saw when we arrived too," Buffy added.  "If this king is enforcing the law that freed the slaves he should know that he's being ignored."

They set out at once, bound for the Grusulug's castle.  The journey took a good part of the day, but they arrived shortly before sunset.  The castle looked like nothing out of a book of fairy tales.  There were no high, delicate towers, nor was there a moat with a drawbridge.  It was ugly; a large, blocky, and very solid looking structure, clearly built to withstand a siege, just not the type of siege that seemed to be underway.

"What in the world?"  Buffy watched the crowd outside the castle.  It wasn't an army of any sort as far as she could tell, but the castle was under siege nonetheless.  "What's this about?"

"Petitioners."  Sky replied.  "People seeking an audience with the king or one of his officials."

"Which means getting in to see him is not going to be easy."  She looked at the crowd, trying to estimate its size.  "Don't know about you, but I've got better things to do with the rest of my life."

"We can't afford to wait," Sky agreed.

"And if his own troops are betraying him," Cyril, continued, "we can't risk talking to anyone else about it."  Buffy nodded in agreement, thinking quickly.  She pointed to a spot on the wall but Cyril pre-empted her.  "We can't land on the walls or anywhere inside the castle.  They'll have guards waiting to shoot down unwanted flying guests."

"They do," Sky agreed.  "We'll have to approach by foot."  They landed on the road approaching the castle.  It was not too crowded, and most of the travelers they did see were of two types, the gray skinned soldiers of the kind that had attacked Sky's home, and the green skinned demons that seemed to make up the majority of the regions inhabitants.  There were humans however, small clusters here and there.  All of the humans appeared tense and wary of those around him.

They tried to hide it, walking with heads held high and without clustering too closely together, but Buffy could see how tense they were.  They did not mingle freely with the other travelers on the road.   The other species seemed relatively comfortable with each other.  There was similar 'clustering' among the other races, but not to the same degree, and she found herself wondering what it might have been like in southern towns back home, in the late 1860s.  

Hopefully it would work out for the humans.  Hopefully their road would not be as rough.

Shaking off these thoughts, she focused on possible threats around them.  With so many demons about, what she referred to as her 'Slayer sense' was practically screaming at her.  She didn't perceive any immediate threat, despite the strange looks her companions were getting, but being surrounded by demons, many of which were armed, had her on high alert.  So she knew that the soldiers were taking an interest in them before the others realized they were there.  A quiet warning to Cyril and Sky got them ready to fight.

To her surprise though, the soldiers approached them openly.  Their leader raised a hand to forestall any violence.  "You, Gargoyle.  Are you of the hold that lives two days march from here?"  He indicated the direction of the mesa.

"Who are you and what business is it of yours?" Buffy asked moving between her friends and the soldier.  The soldier in charge regarded her contemptuously.  Sky stepped in hastily.

"I am.  What do you want with us?"  The soldier turned to her, dismissing Buffy without a second glance.

"I am captain Skal of the King's army.  We have been trying to track the movements of a group of soldiers that have broken away, turned to banditry.  A rumor of a movement against a Gargoyle Hold reached us from a spy.  We do not know when the attack will come though."

"It already came," Buffy answered shortly.

"That is why we are here," Sky explained.  

Skal shook his head angrily.  "Please come with us.  You need to tell your story to the king.  We are trying to keep word of such attacks from getting out."

"Makes sense," Buffy put in coldly.  "If no one knows about the threat they can't effectively defend themselves against it.  Makes for easier pickings doesn't it?"  The soldier turned on her abruptly, but kept his voice low.  Most of the crowd they had been moving with had pulled away at the approach of the soldiers, but Skal was still being cautious about being overheard.

"If you have accusations to make against me and evidence to support them you can tell the king."  He brought his temper under control with an effort.  "Now.  If you're quite through telling me how to do my job, the king is this way."

"He is offering us what we want Buffy," Cyril pointed out reasonably, "and you have no reason to suspect him of complicity in the attack on the hold."  She nodded reluctantly, but eyed the soldiers around them suspiciously.  "Please captain, lead the way."

Their course took them, not down the road to the castle gate, but to a side road that circled around it, away from the other travelers.  Buffy's suspicions grew as she watched the castle and the crowd dwindle in the distance.  The captain's expression gave nothing away, and the soldiers were equally stone-faced.  Entering a particularly dense copse of trees, Buffy noticed a movement from above and stepped to the side in time to avoid the silent attack.

Two of the soldiers were dead before they even knew they were under attack, but the remainder responded admirably.  Buffy drove a fist into a walrus like face and felt bone crack.  The creature fell away and Buffy spun to even the odds Captain Skal was facing.  He gave her a grateful look as she tossed the corpse of one of his attackers into the bushes.

The attack ended as quickly as it began.  The surviving creature vanished into the woods as quickly as they'd come.  Three of the soldiers were dead and two others were wounded.  "Okay," Buffy asked, scanning the trees for signs of their attackers,  "anyone want to tell me what that was about?"

"Those were Ilgre," the Skal informed her.  "They once were elite assassins serving the priesthood.  Zealots," he added distastefully.

"Do you think the priests might be behind the attack on my Hold?"  Sky asked, worriedly.  The idea was a disturbing one, as the priests had seemed to vanish after being driven from power.  Rumors had flown for a while that they were merely in hiding waiting the chance to seize power again.

"Possible," Skal acknowledged.  "We're looking into all possibilities."  He took a moment to orient himself and then gestured for them to follow.  "Come.  The entrance is close."  He led them to a tunnel entrance and through what Buffy guessed was an escape tunnel should the castle ever come under siege.  It led to a storeroom deep in the castle.  

Skal led them to a private office while one of his guards was sent to inform the king.  A short time later, two men entered.  The first was an imposing, if harried looking, man in an elaborate robe and a gold circlet on his head.  He was followed by a short, rail thin man carrying a book of some sort.  Buffy took him to be an aide or advisor.  The first man looked over his visitors and seemed to come to a decision.  He shrugged out of the robe with a relieved expression, much to the quickly hidden disapproval of his aide.  Under the robe was clothing not that different than that worn by the people they had seen outside.  The only thing distinguishing him now was the gold circlet he wore.

"I am Grusulug, king of Pylea.  Please sit and tell me your names."  The directness and lack of formality surprised the three visitors, but they did as he asked.  They could all see he was grateful for the interruption to his work and the chance, however briefly to relax.  Introductions were made and they launched into their story.  

The king listened with growing concern to their account of the battle and to Skal's report.  Sky summarized their conclusions for him.  With a sigh, the king sat back and closed his eyes.  "I believe you may be right.  This seems a concerted effort to undermine my authority."

"Well, having your army desert to raid villages would sure do that," Buffy admitted, "but I'm not really sure what can be done to stop it.  I mean by the time you got word of this attack it was long over."

"The source of this problem needs to be found," Cyril agreed.

"That is obvious," the thin man who had not spoken before said rudely.  "Unfortunately it may not help."

"What do you mean Laars?"  The king looked at his aide with a slight frown.

"You have always asked me to speak plainly Majesty, and I will do so now for your own good.  Even if it is the case that there is a single person or body behind the problems that have arisen since you assumed the throne, it remains the case that you haven't been able to protect the people or to hold your troops' loyalty.  If they can be so easily swayed or bought off then the problem is indeed serious."  The king nodded.  "Whether it is a concerted effort by one person or party or the disaffection of numerous groups and individuals is almost irrelevant."  

"If that is the case," the king noted soberly, "then bringing the leader, if there is one, to justice, won't solve the problem.  We need a different approach."

"It would be a beginning," Buffy pointed out, "but I you're right."  She paused a moment.  "Not to be to obvious, but we have a different problem… At least Cyril and I do."

"Indeed?"  The king nodded, almost grateful for a new problem, one that he could perhaps find a ready solution to.  "Please, tell me.

They did, explaining about Glory and how they had come to Pylea.  Grusulug listened thoughtfully, then nodded.  "I have to get back to my sister.  She's in danger and I've already been here nearly two days.  Who knows what Glory is doing to my sister?"

"And my home," Cyril added.  Buffy nodded.  "We have to get back, and we are told that the priests had texts that would open portals to other worlds.  If you still have those texts…"

"We have them," the king nodded.  "I have maintained their library, and I have archivists and scholars who can read them and create the portals.  We should be able to help you get home."  He turned to his aide.  "Laars.  Consult the scholars and see what they will need."

"Yes Majesty."  Laars bowed slightly and withdrew.

"While we wait," he turned back to his guests, "I want you to tell me everything about the attack.  The soldiers' armor and colors for instance, were there crests?  Markings of any sorts to indicate which lord they serve?"

"They wore armor and the colors of your own troops."  She indicated Skal.  "Like his."  

"All of my men were accounted for, Majesty.  It is not possible that anyone under my command had a hand in this."

"What about armor and weapons?"  Cyril asked.  "Is everything accounted for?"

The king looked intrigued at this question.  "Indeed.  If there has been a theft, catching the thief could lead us to the people behind this."

"I will call for an inventory at once," Skal bowed and, with a nod from the king, departed.  

"You don't stand on formality around here do you?"

"Too many years on the battlefield," the king nodded.  "Before I was king I was the priests' champion.  I traveled the land destroying vicious creatures, threats to the populace."  He sighed.  "Now the threats are different, and I am unable to deal with them as I once did."

Buffy nodded sympathetically.  "Makes it a lot easier when there's an enemy you can hit right in front of you.  I've been there."  While they waited for the answers to their questions the two champions began to trade stories.

***

Laars completed his errand for the king and then headed f or the servants' quarters to tend to one of his own.  The woman he found there abandoned her subservient manner when she saw it was him and that he was alone.

"Do you have news Laars?"  He quickly told her what had transpired and gave instructions as to how to proceed.  "It will be done.  This will aid our cause greatly.  Soon… Imagine it, no priests, no king, just the people deciding how they should live, choosing their own leaders."  The vision seemed to inspire her.   "I'll take word to the others."

"Soon hopefully," Laars muttered.  "These raids are becoming worse.  We can't justify the revolt if it comes at such a price."

"I know it's hard," she agreed, "but it's the only way, and it will be worth it."  

"I'll make sure there's no evidence.  Can you be back by tomorrow?"

"I'll have news from Caliz by noon."  

Laars nodded and two parted company.  Caliz, Laars reflected, had seemed so confident.  He had put to rest all of their doubts about the rightness of the cause.  Once the people were in control of their own destiny there would be true equality.  Everyone, Caliz said, would have a say in how the government was run and in the laws that were made.  First though, people had to lose faith in a strong and popular king.  The day would come soon, Laars knew, when Caliz would call for revolution, and the people would rally to him.  Soon, he hoped.  Before much more blood was spilled.

***

"Well who's your main opponent?" Buffy asked.  "Anyone in particular been complaining?"

Considering carefully, the king nodded.  "Caliz has often spoken out, calling for greater accountability."  He shook his head.  "I don't understand what he means."

"It means," Buffy said, "that he wants you answerable to someone.  We had problems back home with kings abusing their power.  I'm guessing these priests pretty much rode roughshod over everyone.  Kept people to scared to try to change things?"

"Indeed," Sky nodded.  "That was the way of it."

"How are things different in your world?"  The king asked, honestly intrigued.

"I think the question we should be asking," Buffy answered, 'is; could it be this Caliz guy behind the attacks?"

The king shook his head impatiently.  "No.  Caliz is an idealist.  He would not taint what he sees as a noble cause with innocent blood."  His tone was confident and Buffy let it go.  After all, the king knew these people better than she did, or would ever have a chance to if they could just get that portal open.

"What of Caliz' followers?"  Cyril asked.  "Are they all idealists?"  Frowning thoughtfully Grusulug considered the question.  "If someone is acting without his knowledge…"

"Possible, but unlikely.  An undertaking of this scale, organizing the raids, hiring mercenaries or bribing soldiers… it would not go unnoticed by Caliz."  He sighed.  "He is a thorn in my side, but he is not a villain."  Grimacing as he remembered something, the king glanced at the door to the room.  "One of his committees is here now, waiting for a response to a yet another new proposal.  I think it is his plan to drown me in ink and bury me in parchment."  He considered a moment and then repeated his earlier question.  "Perhaps I can find a solution in your world.  How does your king manage?"

"Well…" Buffy hesitated a moment before launching into a description of the basics of the democratic process.  Grusulug listened with great interest, nodding and asking questions several times.

"I believe this could be used to my advantage here.  If the people selected representatives it would at least eliminate some portion of the crowd at my gate."

"Glad I could help," Buffy smiled uncertainly, not at all sure she had helped.

"I believe I will call Caliz for a meeting.  Thorn in my side though he may be, he does want the best for the people, as I do."  He stood.  "Please, wait here, I may have questions.  The archivist will come to you when he has found what you seek."  All three nodded, and the king left, looking considerably happier than when he had entered.

"Well, we may have solved one problem for him," Buffy looked glumly after the king.

"Without slaying anything," Cyril added.

"Always a plus," she nodded, although she honestly couldn't remember a solution to a serious problem that didn't involve killing something.  "I don't think I've ever heard of a king so eager to give up power."

"Give up power?"  Sky asked.  "It will come to that?"

Buffy shrugged.  "That's generally the way it goes.  Elected officials get more powerful until the king is basically a figurehead."  She paused, considering.  "I don't think I emphasized that did I?"  The others shook their heads.  "Hmm.  Oh great."

"I'm honestly not certain it will matter to him," Cyril opined.  "He seems less than comfortable in his role.  At least he seems very tired."

"Maybe," Buffy nodded, but something about the whole situation was still bothering her.  Unfamiliar as she was with politics, something about the situation had her spider sense tingling.

***

Caliz received the messenger from the king with interest.  Of late, he reflected, the king had tended to avoid meetings with him.  _What has change,_ he wondered, _that he wishes to see me now?_

Not wishing to irritate the king with delays and spoil whatever mood had brought on the desire for a meeting and possible progress toward his goals, Caliz hastily gathered his closest advisors and his latest proposals, and left immediately for his audience with the Grusulug.

***

Laars reentered the room almost an hour after the king's departure.  "I have news of your way home."  The three listened attentively.  "The scholars have found a way to return you to the place you came from, in essence retracing your steps to this Avalon you mentioned.  It is complex though, and it will take time to set up.  You should be able to return by midday tomorrow though."

"Another day?"  Buffy's face fell.

"Remember," Cyril put in, "time passes differently on Avalon.  For each day that passes in the outside world, an hour passes on Avalon."  He considered, "since this is not our world the difference may be more pronounced.  I do not know, but little can be gained by fretting over it."  Buffy nodded.  "Are your scholars aware of the time difference," he asked suddenly.  "if that will cause problems…"

"I told them of the difference," Laars assured him.  "They say it will make no difference in their effort to open the portal, but they were unsure how much time will have passed when you return."

"I guess we'll just hope for the best," Buffy shrugged.

"We are grateful for your efforts," Cyril, ever the diplomat, spoke up.  

Laars nodded, then looked around.  "Where is the king?"

"He went to arrange a meeting with someone called Caliz."  Cyril's news surprised Laars and he hurried out to find the king.  

Laars found him speaking to two of Caliz' men.  "-Caliz will arrive within the hour Majesty.  I am certain he will be most eager for this audience."

"Good.  Then-.  Ah Laars.  What say the scholars?"

"It can be done Majesty, and will be.  Preparation will take a little time, but they will be ready by noon tomorrow."  The king nodded in satisfaction.  "Majesty, may I ask…"

"Yes?"

"You plan a meeting with Caliz.  Is there anything you require to prepare?"

"You are curious," the king smiled slightly.  "Very well, come with me and we'll discuss it with our guests."  With a nod of dismissal to Caliz supporters he led the way back to the room where the outlander and the two gargoyles waited.  "I believe we can reach an accommodation with Caliz that will satisfy everyone."

"Wonderful news Majesty," Laars agreed, genuinely surprised by this turn of events.  If the king were willing to make concessions, perhaps a full-scale revolution would not be necessary.  

***

Laars met Caliz at the castle gate.  Many of the people in the crowd, he noted, were chanting the man's name.  He knew the king was watching and noting the same thing.  Hopefully it would encourage him to be cooperative.

Caliz smiled at the crowd and followed Laars inside.  He would have loved to ask his faithful spy what the king had in mind, but he might be overheard, and he dared not compromise Laars' position.  It had proven far too valuable.

Upon entering the king's private office he was surprised to see a human female and two gargoyles.  Most likely, he realized, they were from the hold he had ordered attacked the day before.  Perhaps that was what had precipitated the meeting?  If so the king had a weaker stomach than Caliz had imagined.  He had anticipated having to do much more damage with his 'rogue' soldiers before the king was ready to talk terms.

"Welcome Caliz," the fool rose nodded genially as Caliz bowed.  "Please sit.  We have much to discuss."  Caliz complied silently and waited for the king to continue.  "Word has reached me of another attack by renegade elements of my own army."  Caliz was an accomplished actor, and had no trouble looking first shocked, and then pained by the idea of more senseless violence.

"How bad?" he asked, as if dreading the answer.

"Bad enough," the king glanced at Sky.

"Twelve were killed, many more wounded."  Caliz stared at the gargoyle in shock.  "They attacked a gargoyle hold?  Why?  Gargoyles interact so little with the rest of Pylea that these raiders could not have believed you had anything valuable."  He backpedaled a bit.  "I mean that-"

"The Hold contained nothing outsiders would have consider valuable?"  Cyril offered politely.

"Yes.  Precisely," Caliz assured them.  Sky nodded, acknowledging the slip.

"I take no offense sir, as it is quite true.  We suspect that the attack was part of a plan to undermine the king's authority, to create the perception that he cannot control his own troops."

"It fits with the pattern that seems to be emerging," the king reasoned.  "This isn't the first attack that seems to lack a… monetary motive."

Caliz blinked slowly considering.  "You may be right Majesty.  I have wondered at the motive of some of the attacks myself.  I simply assumed that I did not have all the facts.  Do you truly believe someone is…  Majesty it is unthinkable! "  

"It is the only thing that makes sense," the Grusulug concluded, studying Caliz' reaction.  He was forced to consider Buffy's suggestion that Caliz was behind the attacks, even if he was not inclined to believe it.  The other's reaction though was sufficient to convince him that he had been right the first time.  "We believe the priesthood did not take their banishment well."

All three of the visitors had watched Caliz' reaction to the news carefully.  Sky seemed satisfied with his display of shock and concern.  Cyril withheld judgment on the matter, as he knew nothing of Caliz or the gray skinned species he represented.  Buffy distrusted him, mostly because he wasn't human.  Non-humans, even those with the best intentions like gargoyles, set off her Slayer sense, the one that told her she was in the presence of a threat.  She had largely learned to ignore it, almost, but not quite dismissing it as xenophobia something to be overcome.  

Caliz seemed earnest, but she still didn't trust him.  It was most likely, she knew, the fact that he was a demon, and that alone was not reason to distrust him.  She kept her doubts to herself.

"With news of the attack," the king continued, "came a possible solution."  He introduced his three guests.  "This outlander, Buffy, has told me of some of the laws and customs of her own land."  Caliz sat forward and listened to what the king proposed.  It fell short of what Caliz wanted, but it was a beginning.  

_Its not enough, but perhaps_, he thought, _this can still be turned to my advantage_.  "I'm intrigued," he said aloud.  "This could be a compromise we could both live with.  There are details to be discussed, but we can work together."

"I think," the king nodded, "that if we can reach an accord we can bring an end to these raids."

"Then let us plan."

***

They talked lat into the night, and Buffy, somewhat out of her element, did what she could to help, although Cyril had to smooth over some of her more acerbic comments, restating what she said in a more diplomatic fashion.  In the end, they arrived at an arrangement that suited them both, even if none of the visitors understood it.  

"So let me get this straight.  You need to be overthrown in order for this to work.  So… Caliz is going to do a dance?"

"The dance of revolution," the king agreed.  "It will largely be for show.  I will retain my role as king, but the people will have much of the responsibility for governing themselves."  He seemed surprised.  "You provided the basic idea.  I would have thought you would be pleased."

"Oh… It sounds great, but it just seems to be happening a bit quick.  I mean, back home things like this usually took a long time and involved a lot of fighting.  Guess I'm just surprised."

"It might have come to that," Caliz nodded.  "Happily, we all want the same thing, what is best for the people.  More importantly, we agree on what that is."

"We are all pleased if surprised that it has turned out so well," Cyril cut off what Buffy was about to say, concerned that her doubts might sour the good mood that had been established.

"There is still work ahead," Caliz acknowledged, "but I'm confident that everyone will be happy with the result.  Do not think we are deluding ourselves.  We know there will be resistance to change and there will be dissent."

"We have a long way to go," the king agreed, "but I believe in this plan."  Buffy gave her best encouraging smile and tried to relax for their benefit.  "And soon," the king added, "you will be on your way home."

Buffy sighed in relief.  "Not that it hasn't been lovely, of course."  The king gave an amused chuckle.

"You should get some sleep.  You have been a great help to us.  Helping you get home is the least we can do.  After a good night's sleep."  He rose to his feet.  "Laars, show our guests to their rooms."

"Yes, Majesty."  He turned to the three visitors.  "This way please."

***

"Something is affecting the portal," Titania frowned.  Something was pushing at the barrier Oberon had established.  "I believe someone is trying to open it from the other side."  She withdrew the barrier and stood ready, not sure what would emerge.

"Is it Buffy?"  Dawn pressed forward, but Giles held her back.

"We'll know soon enough Dawn."

As they watched, the portal changed.  It widened and assumed an entirely different character, looking, Dawn thought, like a Star Trek special effect.  She winced slightly over that analogy; sure she'd never be able to watch the show or one of the movies again.

A moment later, Buffy and two gargoyles emerged from the portal and Titania sealed it behind them.  Dawn ran to hug her sister and Gabriel moved to greet Cyril and the unfamiliar gargoyle.

***

Caliz rode alone to the rendezvous.  The strangers who had so aided his plans were gone.  _Good riddance_.  The winged beast and the cow had been a serious test of his patience.  That was in the past though, and he would not see them again.

Dismounting in the small clearing located nearly a half-league into the woods from the road that led from the castle to his home, he knelt and waited.  The length of time required varied.  He had been kept waiting for nearly a day once.  Other times he was called quickly.

"Report."  Apparently his master was eager to hear the news.

"We have succeeded beyond our initial expectations."  He described, in detail, what had occurred, not once looking up.  Finally the other approached him.

"I am pleased.  This new government you describe will be easy to manipulate, especially if we take the necessary steps while it is forming.  When the time has come, it will be easy to overthrow."  Caliz said nothing.  It wasn't, he knew, his place to speak.  "Listen carefully Caliz to what must be done now.  Succeed and you will be richly rewarded when the Order takes control again and the priests once more rule this land."

THE END FOR NOW


	4. Remembrance

AVALON'S GLORY:  REMEMBERANCE

By Aesop

DISCLAIMER:  I don't own any of the characters from Gargoyles or BTVS and don't make any money off of this, so don't bother suing. This is just for fun. This story takes most of season five into account.  My thanks to StorySeeker for the basic idea and the help he provided by beta reading my work.

SUMMARY:  The Key has been activated scattering gargoyles and humans across worlds known and unknown.  Xander finds himself in a place more alien and frightening than he could have imagined.

Only Xander and Ophelia were left to retrieve, and time was almost up.  Oberon's deadline was only minutes away and Titania was working quickly to eliminate the remaining portals in search of the one they had fallen through.

Anya bit her lip, reminding herself repeatedly that pestering the queen would not help matters.  A hand on her shoulder nearly caused her to jump out of her skin.

"Come along dear, you're just distracting her."  The woman was gray-haired, but still striking.  The accent reminded her of earlier days.  Scotland had been one of her favorite haunts when she was a vengeance demon, although she was never certain why.  Rivalries between the various human clans ensured that there was always plenty of work for her, but that had nothing to do with why it was one of her favorite places. 

_Maybe it's just the accent.  The accent is nice_.  "Oh.  Right.  Don't want to do that.  I'm sorry," she said, remembering the manners Xander had tried to drill into her.  "Who are you?"

"I'm princess Katherine.  Tom an' I lived here with the gargoyles while Oberon and the rest were out wanderin' the world."  She led Anya to a bench at the edge of the garden, steering clear of where Willow and Tara were holding each other tightly, in favor of a spot by the hole Oberon had made upon exiting the garden earlier.  

Anya spared a glance at the witches.  They wouldn't talk about what they had seen on the other side of the portal they had gone through, but both looked profoundly frightened. Willow was a basket case and Tara, badly shaken herself, was attempting to comfort her.  Giles had just advised everyone to give them space. 

"Yuir nae the only one worried you know?  My little Ophelia is missing as well.  I won't have ye distracting the queen."

"I know.  I need to be patient if I want him back."  

"He means a great deal to you?"  Anya nodded mutely.  "I do know the feeling.  If my Tom were missin', I'd feel the same way."  The two sat and compared notes for a time, distracting each other from their respective worries.

Anya told the princess about her days as a vengeance demon and Katherine told of the fall of castle Wyvern and how she came to be on Avalon with so many gargoyle 'eggs.'

***

"Okay Alex, I'll take 'where the hell are we?' for $100."

Ophelia glanced at her companion, not sure what to make of his statement.  After a moment's consideration, she deduced that it was meant as a question.  "No part of Avalon, tha' is certain," she shook her head while surveying the bleak desert landscape.  The most striking feature in sight was one that neither of them could place.  

"I don't know of any part of the outside world," Xander stated, venturing a few steps closer to the edge, "that has a big honkin' hole."  It looked like it might have been an impact crater like that left by a meteor, but if so, he thought that it must have been one big falling rock.

They had been making their way around the edge for most of the night, hoping to find some trace of civilization since the way back to Avalon had apparently vanished.  Worried as they were about their friends, survival took precedence.  The terrain looked as if it had seen better days.  There were areas that might once have been farmland, but had been reclaimed by the surrounding desert long ago.  

The two talked as they traveled, trading stories and talking about their lives.  Ophelia was fascinated by Xander's tales of battles against demons, and she surprised him by knowing Goliath and Elisa.  Her story about that adventure made him shudder.

What had they been thinking?  Refuge on Avalon?  "Should have listened to Goliath," he muttered under his breath.  "After meeting Cin-an-ev, you think we'd know better."

"You have met others of the Third Race?"

"Only one," he answered, accepting her help in climbing a rough mound of broken stone that might once have been a building, as they tried to gain a better view of their surroundings.  "I'm sure I don't have to tell you, a little goes a long way."

"Strangely put," Ophelia remarked, "but I take yuir meaning."  They surveyed the land from the top of the heap of stone.  "It is closer to dawn than I realized," she commented.  "Maybe half-an-hour."

"That may be enough time," Xander said excitedly.  "I see a road!"  Following his gaze westward along the edge of the crater, she discerned a strip of darkness that resembled a narrow stream to her, but was unnaturally straight.  A strange looking road, she thought, but it had to lead somewhere.  She knew enough of deserts from stories told to the hatchlings by the Guardian that water would become a real problem for her companion during the day.

"We should go then," Ophelia nodded with certainty, "but I can nae make much distance before morning."

"Plus," Xander added, "we don't know what kind of people might use that road.  "You'll probably be safer during the day if you stay out of sight."

It was a valid point, but she didn't like the idea of being a burden on him, keeping him alone in the desert for the entire day.  Early on she had considered gliding with him, but the only way to gain any altitude would be to dive off the edge of the crater, but for some reason the idea of doing so sent something cold slithering along her spine.  Xander apparently felt the same way or perhaps it just hadn't occurred to him.  Ophelia was grateful either way.  It made her feel ashamed, but she couldn't shake the feeling the place gave her.

"We can find you a good spot to sleep not far from the road and I can do a little exploring, maybe get an idea of where that road leads."  He caught her eye and smiled.  "Don't worry, I won't wander too far."

They found a safe roosting spot for her in a small bowl formed by the base of three hills, completely hidden from anyone not standing on top of one of them.  It was only a short walk or glide from the road.  

Xander stayed with her until sunrise and then turned away toward the strip of ancient looking blacktop he had seen earlier.  He glanced back once, at the top of the hill, still amazed by the transformation.  He had seen stranger things to be sure, but this was amazing in a new and different way.  Shaking his head, at a loss for words, he turned back toward the road.

It had looked bad from a distance, old and little used.  Up close it became clear that no one had passed that way in a very long time.  "No surprise," he muttered to himself.  "Where would they be going?"  Turning to follow the road with his eyes, he could just make out the edge of the giant pit.  The road led straight to the edge.  "What the hell happened here?"

Receiving no answer from the universe at large, he turned his back and headed in the other direction.  The road ran straight for some time, remaining visible for the most part, but in places it had been completely covered by the encroaching desert.  He was close to turning back when the sound of a distant motor caught his attention.

Moving off the road into the brush, he waited.  An ancient looking vehicle trundled its way along the broken road, easing over the rougher patches as if the driver was taking great care with his old car.

Xander watched the car drive nearly to the edge of the pit.  The driver proved to be an old man, weary looking, but unbowed by his age.  Standing by the driver's side door for a moment as if contemplating something he finally sighed as if resigning himself to something.  "I know you're there.  I saw you in the mirror."

Xander didn't move from the small gully where he had hidden himself.  Turning from the pit, the man looked in Xander's general direction and scowled.  "Well?"  Deciding the old man seemed relatively harmless, Xander rose slowly and faced him.  "That's better.  What are you doing all the way out here kid?"

"You could say I got lost, I guess," his answer deliberately non-committal.  "What are you doing out here?"

The old man snorted in annoyance, but let it slide.  "I'm visiting friends," he told the young stranger, keeping his answer equally uninformative.  Suddenly he stiffened as the man became clearer in the early morning light.  "Who are you?"  Suddenly on his guard, he slid one foot back, positioning himself for a fight, something he hadn't done in over a decade.  The younger man stopped in his tracks on seeing this, suddenly wary.

Xander doubted the stranger, ancient as he appeared, posed much of a threat, but looks, as he well knew, could be deceiving.  Although resolving to be cautious of the old man, he saw no reason not to answer.  "My name's Xander, Xander Harris."

"Don't see how that's possible," the old man's eyes narrowed in suspicion as if gauging the threat Xander posed.  "I'm Xander Harris."

Xander stared at the old man for a moment, not sure what to make of this claim, finally he fell back on the sarcasm that had always served him so well.  "Sorry to disappoint, but you're a bit old for the part."

"And you're a bit young for it," the old man countered.  His expression grew thoughtful as he gave Xander a closer look, and after a moment's consideration asked,  "Can you prove what you're saying?"

"So now you're thinking you're not me?"

"If you are Xander Harris you can think of ways we could both be telling the truth."

This statement gave Xander pause and he considered.  "Well… I'm not a robot.  How 'bout you?"

"Flesh and blood."  A look of realization crossed the man's face.  "What was the name of the first robot you met?"  The younger man nodded, coming to the same conclusion.  "We test each other.  Ask questions only Xander could answer, agreed?"

"Yeah, okay.  Ted.  He was called Ted, and he was dating Buffy's mom.  My turn.   What did Buffy use to stop him?"

"A frying pan if I recall correctly.  Willow took him apart and we scattered the pieces in junkyards all over town."

The two spent the next half hour quizzing each other, asking increasingly personal questions.  Finally both were satisfied, if extremely confused.  "So," the younger Xander asked, "is this a time travel thing or an alternate universe thing?"

The older shrugged.  "Who knows?"  Both lapsed into silence, not sure which of the many questions they had to ask first.  "How did you get here?"

"I fell through a portal Dawn created by accident.  We were on Avalon remember?  We went there to try to get away from Glory."  

"Avalon?" he frowned.  "I think things were different for me.  We found a weapon, a way to beat Glory."  He sighed.  "It was all so long ago, and things have changed so much.  I wonder if that's where the time line split off?"  He puzzled over it for a moment but finally shook it off.  "I know about Dawn's portals though.  They only opened once.  It was just another apocalypse to stop."  Glancing out over the pit he shuddered and hastily glanced away.  "It wasn't the last though."

"I hear that.  There's always another just around the corner."  He noticed the solemn look on the older man's face.  "It was bad?"

"The worst," the old man sighed, "and my last."

Xander stared at the older version of himself, not knowing, or able to imagine what could keep him out of the fight.  One possibility occurred to him, but his mind shied away from it.

"What happened?" he finally asked.  "What is this?"  He gestured out at the pit.

Sighing, the old man looked out over the edge, and an expression crossed his face that made it plain he was seeing something quite different.  "This is, or was, Sunnydale.  Welcome home Xander."

Xander stared out over the pit, not believing it.  "What… How… It can't be.   What could do that to an entire town?"  The old man considered his words and his tone.  His younger self didn't believe him.

"Can't say I blame you," he muttered.  "I still find it hard to believe myself, but its true.  It happened."  
  


Xander had long ago come to the conclusion that somewhere in his brain was a switch labeled 'Too Much,' and that switch was thrown when he was faced with something, a monster or a situation that couldn't be comprehended without an hour or two of quiet introspection, preferably spent hiding in a closet sucking his thumb.  It took a moment for that switch to trip, allowing him to deal without having to comprehend.  "How?'

The old man waited for so long that he thought, perhaps, the other wasn't going to answer.  "We were desperate.  It was the only plan we had, but it was a good plan.  We had all our bases covered, I thought."

60 YEARS AGO

Book tucked safely under his arm, Xander threw the sunlight potion Willow had developed.  The blast was intensely bright and the ubervamps didn't even have time to scream.  

The Bringers, being eyeless, were of course unaffected, but Xander had a way of dealing with them as well.  Retreating around the corner, he pulled his second surprise out of his jacket pocket as they advanced, weapons at the ready.  _Ready to chop me into kibble, I don't think so._  He hurled his surprise around the corner and ran.

The concussion grenade, a leftover from the Initiative, did its job nicely and Xander was able to leave the old mansion the way he had come in, careful not to step in what was left of the bringers.  "In some ways," he mused aloud, "I prefer the vamps.  They're so much tidier when they die."

He was through the mansion and out into the street seconds later and dashing for his car.  He found the way clear of obstacles and hoped he had gotten all of them in the immediate area, but checked his backseat before he got in.  There was nothing hiding there.  _Probably watched too many horror movies_, he thought as he climbed behind the wheel placed the ancient volume carefully in the passenger's seat and started toward home, _but hey, if it works for fictional psycho killers why not real life monsters?_

Home these days was the Summers' house, shared with Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Anya, Andrew, and thirty-odd potential Slayers.  It was getting decidedly cramped.   The plan was his, and the risk was almost worth it to get back to his own place with his own bathroom.  

The drive was mercifully uneventful.  No Bringers attacked.  No ubervamps jumped out of the bushes and no dead people appeared in the seat next to him.  The First had been making quite a nuisance of itself recently, and since it could appear as Buffy or Spike, mistaking it for one of them was becoming a problem.  Both Slayer and vampire were growing short-tempered about people touching them to see if they were solid, however necessary it was.

The plan, Xander suspected, would be risky.  Even obtaining the items needed for it would be risky, which was why he had gone after the most important parts of it alone.  The spell book and the amulet were surprisingly easy to get.  The amulet had been found in an abandoned house in the middle of the day.  Its owner, a witch who had hastily split town like everyone else, had left quite a few interesting possessions behind.

The book was harder to get.  Apparently the First had become aware of his acquisition of the amulet, and realizing what it might mean, sent guards to keep it safe just in case.  It felt good he had to admit, to catch the First with its metaphorical pants down. 

If the amulet and the spell that drove it worked as advertised they could seal the Hellmouth.  He hadn't shared this with the others.  He hadn't told them what he was doing because of the risk involved in using the spell.  The texts that referred to it were vague, but there was a price to pay.  There always was with magic that strong.  He would have to tell them now though.  He couldn't cast the spells involved, and it might well be that this was too dangerous or unworkable for some reason he didn't understand.

He came through the door with his burden, just after the sun dipped below the horizon.  "Cutting it a little close aren't you?"  Andrew greeted him at the door.  "I need a hand in the kitchen, come on."

"That can wait.  I need to see Buffy and Willow."  Andrew shrugged.

"Okay, but you get to explain to the potentials why dinner is late."  Xander tossed the book in a chair and headed for the kitchen.  It was almost an hour before he got back to it.  Willow was already paging through it, frowning fiercely over what she was seeing.

"Will."

"Where did this come from?"  She demanded.

Xander could see she was angry rather than excited.  His plan, even before he had a chance to lay it out, was about to be shot down.  "I brought it back.  There's a spell in there that…"

"I know," she cut him off, glancing around quickly, as if afraid of being overheard.  "It won't work Xander.  For one thing we'd need the amulet.  For another-"

"I have the amulet."  

Willow drew a deep breath, striving for patience.  "For another, there's a huge cost for this spell."  Again she looked around, for what Xander wasn't certain.  "We'd need a willing sacrifice," she finished in a whisper.

"Sacrifice?"  Xander felt himself pale at the prospect.

"Shh!"  Willow glanced around the room again.  A few of the potentials were watching TV, but there was no sign of Buffy or Dawn.  Giles, she knew, was out of town, on some mysterious errand.  "This could work, but Xander we can't show this to Buffy."

"Sacrifice."  He grimaced.  "I should have known it would be something like that.  Is there a way around it?  A loophole?""

"I don't know."  Willow looked dubious.  "I could look?  Maybe find a way to make it work without one."  She didn't sound hopeful, but she put on her resolve face and nodded.  "I'll find a way."

That had ended the discussion for the time.  Xander was soon caught up in the struggle for simple existence that had become their life in Sunnydale over the past few weeks.  Buffy continued to train the potentials with his assistance and then with Faith's.  The First's army continued to grow, although Buffy managed to kill several of the ubervamps, and all but a few of the Bringers that came against them.  

Caleb was proving one of her most dangerous enemies to date.  Twice she had led raids against his stronghold at the winery.  Each time she had lost potentials.  The loss of Amanda during the second raid had been especially hard on Dawn.  Her sister had vehemently disagreed with her decision to go back after the first attack had cost them two of the girls.  Xander had supported her staunchly though, and his words had swayed Willow. 

The second raid proved as disastrous as the first, and Buffy hadn't even considered trying again.

***

"We're not getting anywhere," Buffy fumed.  "We have no idea how to stop the First.  We have no effective weapon against the ubervamps and no way of knowing how much time is left before its army is ready to emerge."  She looked at each of them in turn.  Giles looked graver than usual, unable to offer even a minor suggestion.  Willow's resolve face was slipping, allowing traces of the growing despair she was feeling to show through.  Xander looked equally grave, but there was something else in his expression, something she couldn't put her finger on.  Andrew just looked scared.  The others weren't present.  Anya and Wood were distracting some of the potentials with Dawn's help.  Faith and Spike were out on patrol with the rest.  

No helpful ideas from her friends unless…  "What is it Xander?"

"Huh?  What?"

"You know something."  Willow's eyes widened slightly and Buffy, noticing this, switched her attention to her redheaded friend.  "Will?"  Neither answered immediately.  "Come on folks, its crunch time.  If you have an idea, I need to know about it."

"Maybe," she offered reluctantly.  "I've been working on it.  Unfortunately the spell has a high cost and I haven't found a way around that."

"What cost?  What does this spell do?"

Willow hesitated still, but at the look on Buffy's face, she crumbled.  Buffy wasn't angry with her, that Willow could have handled.  Buffy wasn't preparing arguments either.  Willow had her own arguments to counter any Buffy could raise.  It was worse.  Her friend was starting to lose hope.

"If it works as advertised… it'll close the Hellmouth permanently, seal up the First's army on the other side."

Buffy's jaw dropped.  "Wh-why haven't you said so?!"

"The cost Buffy.  I haven't found a way around it."  She drew a deep breath.  "It requires a willing sacrifice, a soul to seal the portal forever."

Her friend was silent for a moment, considering.  "We're low on options and running out of time, but keep it as an option.  Find a way."  Willow nodded, not sure she liked the look on the Slayer's face.

Options were low and Willow knew that every possibility had to be explored.  That didn't mean she had to like it.  Preparations for the spell were made at Buffy's direction, and in her spare time Willow exhausted every source of information she had available to her.  A call to New York to speak with Goliath and various contacts magical and conventional yielded vague possibilities but nothing that came close to being as certain as the spell Xander had found.

The next few days saw an increase in the First's activities.  There were more Bringers in the area and more and more of the super vamps by night.  On the third night, Buffy dreamed.  

Standing above the pit where the seal was located, she saw Bringers killing Kennedy, allowing her blood to flow over the seal.  When it opened, the demons began to emerge, and they kept coming in a seemingly endless stream.  The scene shifted and she saw herself and her friends fighting an overwhelming force, and she watched them die, one by one.  The First's army spread and continued to grow, destroying everything in its path.

Buffy woke without a sound, even though she wanted to scream, she wasn't able to do so.  Her chest tight and her hands clenched, she stared into the darkness of her room, a room now shared with four potentials and silently raged over what she had seen.  It was coming.  That night.  Only one option remained to her.  The spell to seal the Hellmouth required a willing sacrifice and it would have one.

***

"We can't afford to wait.  If you don't have another option now, we'll go with this plan."

"But Buffy-!"  Willow broke off, knowing it was useless to argue any further, not after what the slayer had told her about the latest prophetic dream.  "I… I'll get ready," she finished in a small voice.

"NO!!"  Dawn who'd been standing near the door where neither had seen her.  "I won't let you."

"Dawn please," Buffy began, but her sister was shaking her head adamantly.  "Its what I do Dawn, and it's the only way."  She didn't even try to convince Dawn that their plan was something other than what it was.  This was going to be hard enough.

"You've sacrificed yourself for the world already!  Shouldn't once be enough?"

"Doesn't work that way Dawn and you know it."

"It should."  The quiet voice barely registered for the sisters, so he spoke again.  "It should be enough.  You've done enough."  

Buffy glanced over, annoyed.  Andrew had entered the kitchen right behind Dawn, silent and meek as he usually was around Buffy and the Scooby core.  "Go away Andrew.  I don't have time."

"You will," he told her.  "You'll have lots of time.  I'm doing it."  Finally they were paying attention to him.  "Nobody takes me seriously, and its time you did.  I can't contribute much.  I know you all think I'm worthless, and you're right, but I can do this, be like that guy on Independence Day, the crazy, drunk veteran who wound up saving the planet.  I…"

"This isn't a movie Andrew!"  Buffy snapped, finally losing her patience with him.  "This is real."

"Don't you think I know that?!"  It took all his courage at that point to shout her down.  "I helped make this mess.  Let me help clean it up.  I'm not good for much.  You're right about that, but I can do this."

Buffy stared at him, taken aback.  She had never seen him so assertive.  She moderated her tone, realizing that he was serious.  "Andrew.  I know you-"

"No you don't.  You're not taking me seriously!  I can do this and I want to do it.  You're too important.  Let me help clean up the mess I made."  Usually his tone would have been   whiny or pleading at this point, or he would have been putting on a brave face, imagining himself to be a comic book character, but he wasn't whining, and Buffy could tell he wasn't playing.  "I heard you talking.  I know about the spell.  Kind of a perk of being the guy nobody notices.  I'm next to invisible sometimes."  

Andrew could feel a babble coming on as the terror gripped him, but he swallowed hard and forced a steady voice.  "You need a willing sacrifice.  I'm willing.  Let me stop this."

"Andrew…"  Buffy trailed off.  He wanted a chance to redeem himself, and he saw this as the way to do it.  She understood, but she couldn't let him.

"Its an involved spell, Buffy.  The person who sacrifices himself has to read a long portion of it aloud, declaring their intentions.  The First isn't gonna sit still for it.  I can't fight off Bringers and super vamps, but you can.  You can keep them off me long enough to do this.  It's the only way." 

Dawn and Willow were staying carefully out of the argument, neither wanted to be seen as taking sides in an argument that would see one of their friends dead.  Willow scolded herself for even hoping that Buffy would agree to let Andrew work the spell, but at the same time she couldn't help hoping that the Slayer would lose this fight.

"Its logical Buffy.  I… fly down the trench to the vent and you keep the tie-fighters off my back."  He felt like kicking himself for resorting to a movie reference, knowing full well that it was one of the reasons they looked down on him.  "Let me-," no, not a request; she'd turn him down.  It had to be a statement.  "I'm doing this."

Buffy wanted to argue.  It wasn't in her nature to let someone else take the risk, or make the sacrifice, in her place.  Andrew wasn't doing this to protect her, that at least she couldn't take issue with.  One of her friends might have tried to step in to save her, but that wasn't Andrew's motivation.  He wanted to redeem himself.  

She appreciated that, but she couldn't let him do it.  "Andrew-"

"No arguments.  You're too important.  What happens if this spell prevents the next Slayer from being called?  The sacrifice serves as a kind of cork in a bottle, keeping the genie in if I understand the spell right.  What if it doesn't kill you and you're just stuck there? No more Slayer."

"He's right Buffy." Willow's eyes widened.

"There's still Faith."

"Yeah," Willow snorted, sounding less than impressed, "but no Watchers to train the new Slayer when she dies.  You're both needed Buffy, and we're out of time to argue."

Willow was right.  The spell would take time to prepare and they had other preparations to make as well.  Buffy nodded reluctantly.

The next four hours were spent in frantic preparation.  The potentials were armed and prepared as best they could be, not only with swords but also with sunlight potions and whatever other surprises Xander, Wood, and Spike could muster between them.  Long range weapons weren't going to win the battle though.  It was going to come down to hand to hand fighting and they all knew it.

"If it's a bringer, target the head, neck, and chest.  If it's a vamp, go for the heart or the neck.  We're looking for killing blows only people.  If you need to disable one to get in close, go for the eyes, everything's got eyes."

"Except the bringers," one of the potentials broke in.

"Except the bringers," Xander acknowledged.

"What if its something else?"  Rona asked.

"Could happen, so here's a handy tip.  Go for center mass.  Don't be distracted by all the fancy tentacles or whatever just 'cause they're waving in your face going 'look at me!'"

"Xander?"  Andrew had come into the room quietly, unnoticed as usual.  Xander turned to face him.  "Could I talk to you?"

"Sure."  He turned back to the girls.  "Give us a few."  When they were alone, Xander turned to him.  "What's up Andrew?"

"I need you to do something for me."  He handed Xander a folded sheet of notebook paper.  "I want you to take care of this… y'know, after."  Xander started to open it, but Andrew held out a hand to stop him.  "Its my will."

"Oh.  Oh right.  I'll take care of it."  He couldn't think of anything else to say, but Andrew apparently didn't want to talk about it.  He turned away, already lost in thought.  It was one thing, Xander realized to risk your life on a mission, but Andrew knew that he wasn't coming back from this.  The fact that it had come to this, that they were desperate enough to even consider it was almost incomprehensible to him.

They had examined it from every angle though, and no one had come up with a better idea.  _It still sucks_.  

Shortly after noon, the school bus they had appropriated from the deserted school district office building rolled away from Ravello drive carrying one Watcher, two Slayers, 28 potential Slayers, a witch, a carpenter, a vampire with a soul, a high school principal, and two teenagers; one of whom, the core of the group knew, wouldn't be coming back.  It ate at them, but no better ideas had occurred to them, and they were resigned to pushing forward with their plan.  

"The place'll be crawling with bringers," Xander reasoned.  Buffy nodded.  It was a safe bet that the First knew they were coming.

"We'll open the place up to a little sunlight as well," Buffy nodded.  "Limit the movement of the super vamps."  She glanced at Spike, anticipating his objection.  "I'll need you with me, down by the seal."  As per the plan they'd made they spread out.  Xander took seven of the potentials and went in a back entrance, searching for bringers and tearing down blinds and shutters to let in as much sunlight as possible.  Two other crews led by Wood and Giles respectively took other entrances, following the same procedure.

They met surprisingly little resistance, killing a total of nine bringers and only suffering minor injuries in the process.  They met in the main hallway where Buffy and the rest had secured the main entrance, the office and the surrounding classrooms.

"This was too easy," Faith opined, glancing around suspiciously.  "We should have met heavier resistance."

"Agreed," Giles nodded. "Something is off here."

"You think we're walking into a trap?"  Buffy asked, glancing thoughtfully at her watcher.

Xander scowled.  "Gee, ya think?"  

"So let's walk into it already," Kennedy cut him off.  "We know where the sewer entrances are.  We know the weapons we have will work against them and we can set lookouts at key spots."

"We're not going to get another chance at this," Buffy reminded her friends.  "We do this now, regardless of what preparations the First has made.  No choice."

They took their positions and Buffy led the way down to the seal.  "It'll have to be open for the spell to work, Buffy," Willow reminded her.  "We have to go in."  The Slayer nodded and drew her knife.  One by one the girls cut themselves and bled on the seal.  It opened and Buffy went in, followed closely by Spike, Willow, Andrew, Faith, and 23 of the potentials.  The rest had been spread out around the school to guard against an expected counter-attack on the surface.  They found themselves at the top of a steep hill, looking down at the First's army.

"Get to work Will.  It won't be long before they notice us.  Andrew….  Stick close to Will and be ready."  Andrew nodded, deathly pale, at the thought of what he had to do.  He helped Willow set up the spell as best he could though, even though his hands shook terribly.  

Below them on the fire-dotted plain the demons suddenly stopped squabbling and fighting among themselves and, as one, looked up.  They charged together, looking more like an incoming tide than an advancing army.

"Ready!  Throw!"  Seven of the potentials tossed small bottles brought along for the occasion.  Four shattered on the ground before the advancing demons.  Two landed farther back in their ranks, and one was shattered in the air by a chance encounter with a sword.  

Seven miniature suns sprang into existence for a few seconds, reducing several dozen demons to ash and driving others back.  It was a temporary reprieve.  More vampires pushed forward to take their place.

"Second wave!"  More bottles and several cans flew through the air trailing burning paper fuses.  The Molotov cocktails hit the ground well ahead of the advancing horde, and exploded.  The burning gasoline and oil spread from the shattered bottles spread, consuming more of the creatures.  

It barely slowed them.  Some leaped the flames, some went around.  Not all made it, occasionally falling short or pushing each other into the fires in their eagerness to get to the prey that had wandered willingly into their domain.  

Buffy glanced back at Willow to see how the spell was coming she was nearly finished, but Andrew was nowhere in sight.  "Andrew?!"  She couldn't leave the line, not with the enemy growing closer by the moment.  "Rona.  Go find Andrew."  The girl nodded and ran for the stone stairway that led up through the seal.  It was the only way he could have gone.

Andrew ran.  Blind panic driving past the point of exhaustion.  What had he been thinking?  What was he doing now?  _Have to get away!_  He had to go back.  He had promised.  But his legs kept moving him forward, away from the seal, away from the school.  Away from the people he knew depended on him.  Whatever shame he felt though, he never slowed.

Rona turned and headed back to the basement after a brief search.  There was no sign of Andrew, and she couldn't waste any more time on it, knowing that she would be needed.

Xander parried the bringer's swing and thrust the sword he carried between its ribs.  He didn't know if that was where bringers kept their hearts, but it seemed to work.  The bringer fell away, as silent as ever, but now motionless as well.  With his own area clear for the moment he turned to see how Dawn was doing.  She had just dispatched a bringer of her own.

She gave him a brief nod before turning to face the next.  They were coming out of the woodwork now, leading both to wonder where they had all been hiding.  It didn't really matter though, what mattered was keeping them from reaching the seal and attacking Buffy's group from the rear.  A head bounced off the shoulder of the one he was fighting, distracting it just long enough for a fatal blow.

The spell was ready.  All that was needed now was Andrew.  Willow looked up.  Preparations and casting had claimed all of her attention, and the rest of the world had been shut out, a distant murmur at best.  Rarely had she encountered a spell that required so much of her concentration and energy.  Her work complete she gradually became aware of the world around her, rather like waking from a deep sleep.  Willow woke to a nightmare.

All around her the potentials were dying.  Vi hit the ground next to her, throat torn out, and the demon responsible lunged for Willow.  A desperate shout and a flash of steel later the demon and its head parted company and Rona was there.

"We have to go now!"

"Where's Andrew?!" Willow looked around desperately.

"Run off," the potential shook her head and split the skull of a demon clinging to Chau-An's back.  The Chinese girl gave her a grateful look and moved to help another.

"Everyone out!"  Buffy shouted.  She, Spike, and Faith were fighting harder than Willow had ever seen them fight but it wasn't enough, not against such numbers.  "Out!" She shouted again, and the girls obeyed, falling back quickly, and making their way toward the stairs.  "You too Willow.  It's to me to do the cleanup here.  Out!"

She didn't know where Andrew was, and it hardly mattered.  They couldn't hold long enough for him to reach the top of the circle Willow had made.  Buffy stepped into it without hesitation, and the fight was over for her.

Willow tried to reach for her, desperate fear on her face at the thought of what was happening to her friend.  The spear that tore into her side and kept going till it had severed her spine was barely noticed before her sight dimmed.  All she saw was Buffy as the Slayer began to glow.  

Faith saw Willow fall, and killed the beast responsible, but in doing so she left herself vulnerable for a split second as the last of the surviving potentials escaped up the stairs.  Five of the creatures piled on top of her, dragging her down.

From his vantage point at the bottom of the stairs, Spike used a battle-axe taken from one of the bringers upstairs to fend off the First's army for just a little while longer.  He saw Faith fall, saw Willow's lifeless body crumpled at the feet of the Slayer he had come to love so dearly.  

Buffy herself was aglow.  The demon's shied away from her, barely able to look at what was becoming blinding, yet somehow contained   It was as if a barrier held the light at bay, but it was growing fast, becoming a small star, a small sun.  She had never been more beautiful.

"Oh Buffy," he breathed in the second before the barrier gave way and sunlight filled the world.

THE PRESENT

"I don't really know what happened, that's the killer.  I only have a few facts.  We all broke for the bus when the ground began to shake.  Giles dragged principal Wood back, badly hurt.  He didn't make it to the hospital.  Anya and the potentials that went with her never showed up.  Out of nearly forty potentials that arrived in town, only seven made it out.  They didn't look back, so they didn't know that Buffy, Willow, and Faith weren't right behind them."  He didn't mention Spike, having rarely found the need to grieve for him.  _Full up of grief, no room for more_.  He shook off the thought.  "Rona never forgave herself for not going back for them.  She was the next Slayer, but only lasted a couple of months."  The old man paused in his narrative to sigh.  "I told her not to blame herself, but she never listened.  Buffy used to tell us the first rule of slaying was, 'don't die.'  She never accepted that it wasn't her fault.  She was the one who got the last few potentials out in one piece, probably activated as soon as Faith died."

"Guilt's a killer," the younger nodded.

"Yes.  Yes it is."  They were silent for a long time.  Finally, the younger spoke.

"What about Andrew?"

"Don't know.  He ran, I know that, but did he make it out of town?"  He shrugged.  "Who knows?"

"You don't know that Buffy…"

"It was Buffy.  You're forgetting Cin-an-ev.  Buffy would have survived thanks to his spell.  She would have come out by now."  He glanced at his younger self and saw the realization.

"Oh my God…"

"She's still in there, keeping the Hellmouth shut."  He choked and his next words were so quiet that the younger couldn't hear him over the roaring in his ears.

_She's still alive.  Trapped, alive and immortal in hell!_  "No… It can't…She can't be."

"I don't know," the older replied, staring out over the pit that was all that remained of his childhood home.  "I hope I'm wrong."  He glanced up to see the sun beginning to sink in the west.  "But I know I'm not."

The younger said nothing for a long time.  Cin-an-ev's words rang in his ears as clearly as if he was hearing them again.  _You are content as you are, and so shall you stay-_.

"Until the last demon has vanished away."  The older finished the thought as if the younger had spoken aloud.  "I looked for him.  Giles and I spent nearly three years once chasing rumors, but I never found him.  I don't think he would've helped anyway, but for a while, I managed to convince myself…"

"Can we get her out?"

"No.  She's got her finger in the dike and if she takes it out… the Hellmouth opens again, worse than anything we've seen before.  Giles worked on it for years.  So did Dawn.  They both reached the same conclusion.  It would mean the end of the world."  He shook his head again and stared down at his shoes.  Finally he stood and moved to his car.  Reaching into the backseat, he brought out a bundle of flowers that had wilted in the heat of the day while he had told his story.  

Walking to the edge of the pit he pulled a single flower from the bundle.  "Kennedy."  He took out another.  "Vi."  The recitation continued for what seemed like hours, but Xander knew it had only lasted a few minutes.  When the last flower chased Willow's name down into the pit the old man turned back to his car.  Without a word he opened the door and climbed behind the wheel.  Starting the motor, he backed away from the pit and made a u-turn, but paused as he straightened out again.  

"Remember what I've told you," he called.  "Remember and find a way back."

Xander could only nod as the old man drove away, leaving him to return to the world, a world that Xander knew he wanted no part of.  "I'll find a way to stop it," he whispered.  "I swear."

***

"Here they come!"  Anya was jumping up and down with excitement as Xander and Ophelia came through the portal.  She ran to him.  "You're here!  And you're okay!"  His failure to return her hug stopped her in her tracks.  "You are okay aren't you?"  She pulled back and looked him up and down.

"I'm fine," he assured her.  Now his arms did go around her, pulling her close.  "Everything will be fine.  I promise."

NOT THE END


	5. Anticlimax

AVALON'S GLORY:  ANTICLIMAX

By: Aesop

DISCLAIMER:  I don't own any of the characters from Gargoyles or BTVS and don't make any money off of this, so don't bother suing. This is just for fun. This story takes most of season five into account.  My thanks to StorySeeker for the basic idea and the help he provided by beta reading my work.

SUMMARY:  The Key has been activated scattering gargoyles and humans across worlds known and unknown.  All of the humans and gargoyles have returned home, but where is Glory?

Oberon lowered his hand and visibly relaxed as the last of the portals collapsed, vanishing with a brief display of pyrotechnics.  The effort seemed to have aged him visibly, hollowed cheeks and creases in his brow that had not been there before caused them all to stare.  This visible display of fatigue, something no Human and few Fay had ever witnessed, did not last long.  He visibly pulled himself together, the signs of age vanishing quickly as he drew strength from Avalon to replenish his energies.  "It is done," he announced in a voice that showed no signs of the strain he had just endured.

"Avalon is safe then?"  Rupert Giles ventured.  "What of Glory?"

"What of her?" Oberon answered, his tone supremely unconcerned.  He turned a condescending eye on the former Watcher.  "Did you want her found and retrieved as well?"

"No!"  Dawn squeaked, then seemed to realize this was not meant seriously.  "I-I think he just wanted to..."

"I rather lost track of her in all the excitement," Giles explained.  "She went through one of the portals?" 

"Yeah," Spike cut in.  "She got hauled off by this big pile o' teeth n' tentacles."

Giles sighed in relief.  "I was looking, I suppose, for some reassurance that she won't be troubling anyone again."

Oberon considered.  "She lacks the means to travel between dimensions.  Wherever she is now is where she shall stay."

"Unless she finds someone or something that can open a portal for her," Xander pointed out, frowning.  Anya stomped on his foot.  "Ow!  Okay, okay!  She's gone.  I'll just enjoy it."

"Good idea," Buffy gave her friend a tolerant smile.  The smile vanished though as she turned to confront Oberon.  "That only leaves one thing."

Oberon cocked one eyebrow in her direction, seeming vaguely amused when she gave him what Xander referred to as the LOOK.  "The Key," he nodded.

"No.  Not the Key.  My sister.  I don't care where she came from or what she used to be.  She's my sister now and I don't like people using her."

"R-respectfully, your majesty," Giles stepped in hastily.  "It is in everyone's best interests that steps be taken to insure that this does not happen again.  The powers that Dawn contains are incredible and need to be properly channeled or restrained."

"Indeed."  Oberon looked at Dawn speculatively and she shrank away, casting a terrified look in Giles' direction.

"I-I believe I know what you were trying to accomplish," he continued hastily, "but… can you return her abilities to their dormant state?"

"I cannot," Oberon answered flatly.  "It would damage her and leave the Key more dangerous than it is now.  I can, however, finish what I started."  Buffy's eyes narrowed in anger and she opened her mouth to tell him precisely what he could do with his plans for Dawn.  Giles put a hand firmly over her mouth and spoke again.

"I'm sure you can understand Buffy's concern for her sister's well-being.  What exactly would you do?"

"The child would be given full control of the Key's natural abilities.  It would take time for her to learn to use them properly though.  She would require tutoring…"

"That the witches could provide I'll wager," Spike broke in, having had more than enough of Oberon's manipulations for one day.  "She's goin' home with us.  Love to live dangerously though I do, I wouldn't suggest anythin' else."  He glanced at Buffy who was giving her Watcher an irritated look, and finished quickly.  "Don't think you should suggest it neither."

"I could always leave her as she is.  It might be amusing to watch you try to cope with her little outbursts," Oberon mused, ignoring Spike's implied threat.  

"Unfortunately, my love," Titania broke in, stroking his arm, "despite their insolence, they speak truth.  This cannot be allowed to happen again.  The balance between worlds must be carefully maintained."

The Fay lord turned to his queen and considered this for a moment before nodding.  "The easiest way to prevent that would be to destroy the Key."  Ranks closed in front of Dawn.  Tara and Willow joined hands as Buffy slipped into a fighting stance.  "However," he continued, his tone indicating that he was either unaware of or unconcerned by their reaction, "the magics involved in its creation are unknown to me.  I could not even attempt it without knowing more."  He sighed and gave them an irritated glare.  "The Key would be safest here, but in the interests of getting you all off of Avalon, I will finish my initial spell, and give the girl conscious control over her power.  That should prevent any accidents.  Then," he gritted out, his temper beginning to fray, "you will all leave, and pray our paths never cross again."

************************************************************************

Glory threw the last tentacle away with a cry of disgust.  Her chance to claim the Key was gone and she was trapped in yet another alien dimension.  The rift had sealed behind her while she was still fighting the monster.

"Okay, okay, this is a setback, but I can deal.  I can deal. Just… think.  Gotta think… Ooh I could use a brain to snack on!"  So involved was she in her rambling that it  was a moment before she noticed the sensation inside her, the squirming unpleasant feeling like her gorge rising that she had come to associate with Ben's return to dominance over the body.  "NO!  Not now nitwit!  I ca-!!"

"Ahhh!"  Ben stumbled, disoriented.  "Ewww!!"  He didn't know what he was standing barefoot in, but it seemed to have leaked out of the thing with the tentacles.  _Where am I now?_  Before he could even begin to take a proper look around, his attention was drawn upwards by a sound that was guttural and at the same time almost musical.  He turned and looked up and up and up.  

Whatever it was, it wasn't looking at him; it seemed completely unaware of him, and he was grateful.  Its attention was entirely focused on the creature that Glory had killed.  It repeated the sound as it stared at the remains of the beast directly behind the petrified Human, sounding, the thought flitted through Ben's misfiring brain, almost grief stricken, and took a single careless step forward.

THE END


End file.
